Kissed Me Till the Morning Light
by solitaireclay07
Summary: You guys dance circles around each other. Ellyn's wrong. I don't dance circles around anybody. Especially not James. What I didn't know was that she wasn't being figurative. She was being literal. Now I have to deal with what happened when we danced.
1. The Dance

"You guys dance circles around each other."

That's what she said to me. That's the only thing she said. Waltzes right through the door just to tell me that we dance circles around each other.

She's wrong. I don't dance circles around anybody.

It's a figure of expression, I know. To dance circles around each other. I know it means we go back and forth and don't get anywhere in our arguments. But we don't. I get somewhere in our arguments. I prove him wrong each time he argues with me. I come out victorious at the end.

So dancing circles? No. Dancing in general? Absolutely not.

Because I don't dance. Especially not with freaks like him.

End of story.

I don't know how it happened but one day we ended up in the common room, alone one night. It was quiet. Key term being was.

"So, Evans, working on Transfiguration there?" I immediately looked up from my parchment to see James Potter staring at me, inches away from my face. I took a glance around the common room and noticed that there was no one else here.

I was stuck with him.

I frowned. "Potter, yes, I'm working. I need to finish..." I told him simply, hoping with every fiber in my being that he wouldn't start asking me that question he knows he'll only get a 'no' in reply.

There was a pause. I scribbled quickly, ignoring Potter who sat on the arm of the couch, just balancing there, fulfilling his goal of invading my personal space.

"So, Evans, what are you doing next week?"

And there it was. Everyone says it's me that instigates our arguments. That, right there, is the sole reason why the arguments start. That, and the fact that James Potter exists.

I looked up, anger flashing in my eyes. He didn't even falter. "Potter, I don't want to go out with you." And he just balanced there, no expression on his face.

His remark cut through the silence once again. "The last time we argued Ellyn said we danced circles around each other." He said this with a grin I didn't understand.

"So? It's a figure of speech," I explained to him and started rambling about how it means we argue and that we don't get anywhere but I actually do because I win.

And he took it all in, with that same grin on his face.

After minutes of explaining it to him, I grew physically and mentally tired, and put my stuff together and slowly got up off the couch. Potter watched as I did this. I could feel his eyes on me. Why was he staring at me like that? Maybe he really is a stalker.

I started to walk away and first felt it.

A tug.

I looked around me quickly, to try not to look so suspicious. Nothing was touching me. I must have been imagining things.

I took another step and almost toppled over. "What the-" I trailed off once I realized Potter was still in the room and probably looking at me like I was crazy. I wheeled around to face him to find a small smirk on his face. I felt like slapping the smirk off of his face.

But I didn't want to take a step toward him and accidentally fall into him or something equally as embarrassing.

"Potter...umm..." How was I to say this without sounding crazy? "I'm stuck." Good job, Lily. That didn't sound stupid at all.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Stuck?" he questioned; the one word hanging in the air and making me realize how crazy this whole situation was.

"I can't move," I elaborated a little, moving my foot forward a couple inches, feeling the invisible force holding me back.

"Really?" He still had that inquisitive stupid look on his face. He said that with too much knowledge.

"What did you do?" I almost yelled at him, flailing my arms about.

"What makes you think _I_ did anything?" he asked, tilting his head at me.

I seriously wanted to smack him. "Because you're sitting there with that look on your face and you act as if you knew this was going to happen!" I said loudly.

Potter shrugged. "I didn't say I didn't _know _about it. I only said I didn't do anything." That smirk was back.

I tried jumping up and down. I didn't get anywhere. I scowled. "Care to share with me your _knowledge_?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"You were there," Potter said simply.

"Oh, really? When, might I ask?" I was getting extremely frustrated. All I wanted to do was get away from Potter as fast as I could.

"This morning. Ellyn told us we dance circles around each other."

I almost shouted that we already went through this. "Potter, that's a figure of speech! And what does that have to do with the reason why I'm stuck here?" I was almost in hysterics.

Potter leaned back on the couch, watching me with a grin. "I think she meant it literally."

My eyes widened. "...What do you mean?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"You won't be able to move from that spot...unless you dance with me. Maybe in circles, if she took it that seriously."

I lapsed into silence, staring at the floor in shock. No way. No way. Not happening. What could I do? Not dance with him.

I felt something move and looked up to see Potter move from the couch to a standing position in front of me. "So, do you want to dance?"

I opened my mouth to give him my universal answer, but he cut me off.

"Oh, and you really have only one answer to that. Because you can't move anyway."

He had me. He had me and he knew it.

Wait. What did Ellyn do to me?

"I heard Ellyn talking about a spell she found where a figurative thing is forced to be taken literally." I think he was reading my mind. Stalker.

"Ellyn, I'm going to kill you..." I muttered underneath my breath, frowning.

"Take my hand." I focused on Potter in front of me, holding out his hand. I stared at his hand, but didn't take it.

"There's no music," I replied, trying everything to get out of this.

Potter looked thoughtful for a second. "Maybe. Take my hand." And he repeated it.

"I don't feel like dancing," I tried again.

"Evans, just take my hand," Potter said, toning down his voice to a whisper.

I sighed, closing my eyes as if I was about to experience the pain of my life. But I was. Dancing with Potter. This has to be some all-time low. I reached for his hand and felt his fingers slowly enclose over mine. His hands were warm.

Just as he grabbed my hand, I heard a tango melody out of nowhere.

Dancing in circles. Thanks Ellyn. Nothing like dancing in circles without the tango music to argue to. Thanks a lot.

Potter grinned at the song choice and spun me out of nowhere. Even though it was Potter that was spinning me, I felt relieved that my feet finally moved from that awful place on the floor.

I landed from the spin right next to Potter's body. Too close. I was almost right on him. My heartbeat sped up from the uncomfortable closeness, and I realized I had been holding my breath. I breathed in deep, realizing that Potter wasn't going to let me go any time soon.

He was literally two inches from me. I only came up to below his chin, so at least his face wasn't two inches from me. But everything else was.

He was breathing heavily too. I could tell by his heartbeat and the way his chest rose and fell.

In the middle of my thoughts, I was pulled away from him once again by a spin, as he extended our hands, and dove me into me into a dip. It was all happening too quick. I couldn't keep up with him.

I don't dance. I don't dance. I don't dance. I told myself over and over again.

'Was I really dancing with Potter?' happened to be the other question.

"Follow my lead," he whispered too close to my ear. I tilted my head to look up at him.

"Stop going so fast then," I almost snapped at him, also in a whisper.

Potter sighed, leading me to one side and back again, in a quick dance. "Why is it that we're _dancing_ and yet, we're _still_ arguing?" he asked; that same inquisitive look on his face that infuriated me so.

"Dancing in circles is arguing. It's the same," I reasoned with him.

His fingers slid over mine, holding my hand tighter. I looked quickly over at my hand and then back at him.

And he laughed. Actually laughed at me. "We're dancing and you're calling it arguing..."

I scowled again, but he didn't have time to see it as I was pulled into another quick spin that ended in a dip that made me feel sick. Potter pulled me up quick, up against him. He was leaning down and I actually caught his gaze.

His eyes startled me. They were still their same hazel color but darkened somehow. He wasn't laughing anymore. He looked almost serious; passionate even.

I stared back as he stared at me.

Was he going to...?

There was a definite pause in the dip, and I didn't do anything. I didn't _want_ to do anything. I just waited. Waited. He would-he'd have to-he'd always wanted to-

Suddenly, James pulled me up, spinning me away from him, a new emotion in his eyes. It wasn't like anything I saw before. Darker. More serious. More...confused?

I panted heavily, feeling like weights rested on my lungs. I couldn't breathe. This wasn't happening.

He still held my hand. I still felt his fingers clasped over mine.

I wanted to do something spontaneous. This was it. But I didn't know if he wanted to anymore.

"You confuse me, Evans," James whispered, panting slightly.

I raised my eyebrow. "Why?"

"The way you act sometimes," James said, too simply.

I grabbed my hand away from him that he was holding before and stepped back. "What's wrong with that?" I asked, offended. In the middle of dancing, he decided he wanted to argue again.

"I don't know. It's just...you do." He looked lost. And he was ticking me off.

"God, Potter, you're so frustrating," I almost screamed at him, and I watched as his eyes widened a bit, "You never make any sense and you just_ confuse_ the hell out of me and I don't get it. I really don't!" He just stared and I continued to ramble. "It makes no sense, Potter. None. What was this all in the first place? Another scheme to get me to like you? Just because I dance with you for two minutes? That's lame, it really is." There was a frown on his face. Was I hurting his feelings? However, I was too into my speech to care. "You make me sick, Potter. I'm just going to go up to my dormitory now. You got the dance you wanted. I hope you keep that in your memory forever, because it's the only thing you'll ever-"

Out of nowhere, he grabbed me by my shoulders and spun me around against the wall, catching my lips in a heated kiss.

His lips were warm, soft. He had me against the wall so I wouldn't run.

But I wasn't thinking of running.

Instead, I pulled him against me, kissing back with the same heat. My hands were free, so I ran them up through his hair, feeling the softness through my fingers. The humidity around us was unbearable. I found myself struggling to take breaths.

He tasted sweet. He moved with me like a professional. He knew what he was doing. And I was following no matter what.

I heard a groan, as he opened the kiss more, making me shiver with every move.

His hands were sliding down my arms, leaving me with goosebumps and tingles. He moved his hands to my waist, resting there, until he pulled me up onto him, grabbing me to hold on.

From this point, I was taller than him, and I had control. I kissed him hard, as he backed up, twirling me around and landing me on the couch.

He broke the kiss for a second, to climb on top of me, careful not to crush me. He hesitated as I watched him above me, looking down with those darkened eyes.

I stared back at him, eyes traveling down to his tie that hung loosely from his neck. I wrapped my hand around the red and gold fabric and yanked hard, bringing him down on me.

And we kissed.


	2. The Consequences

There's a little psychology joke in here. Points if you find it!

* * *

Morning. I didn't want to open my eyes and leave the comfortable spot I was in. It was still dark out, but I knew it was morning, and everyone would be waking up soon. 

All was quiet. Not a thing was heard.

"See!" The one word jolted me awake, causing me to lose my balance and fall onto the floor. "I knew they weren't lying!" I blinked to focus my eyes to see Potter's friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, staring at me. Well, sort of staring at me. They were also looking up. I followed their gaze up to where my feet still lay and saw a tousled-haired groggy Potter staring back at them with an annoyed expression on his face.

Sirius quickly jumped on the couch and sat on my feet. ...Wait. Couch? Potter? Immediately, I racked my brain for what happened last night. Arguing, dancing in circles, dancing literally, and Potter kissing me - ...what was that last one? ...Wait. WHAT!? I glanced up in shock to see a smiling Sirius and an emotionless Potter.

"You're lucky it's early. Someone could have caught you together. Well, John Watson did and his friend...you know...the little one...the shrimp..."

"Albert?" Remus offered.

"Yeah. Albert. Well, they found you guys and immediately went to tell us to save you from any more embarrassment."

I about died from embarrassment right there. I groaned, hitting my head on the couch and glared up at Remus who was just standing there, looking out of place.

And Sirius just sat on my legs so I couldn't possibly walk away...or run away, more like it.

"So, what happened last night? I want all the details..." Sirius exclaimed, leaning back on the couch, making himself comfortable on my _legs_.

I decided just to glare at him. Potter rested his head on his hands and didn't answer either. Sirius glanced back and forth between the two of us. Remus just stood there, looking uncomfortable.

"Maybe we should leave them alone for now," Remus suggested. That's why I like Remus most out of the four of them. He's the most...logical I guess.

Sirius frowned. "But I wanna know!" he whined and I frowned to match his. "Fine, but I want the details later." And with giving us both a look that said "you'd better tell me", he basically skipped away. Remus calmly walked out. Potter and I stared at them as they left.

Potter sighed, turning to look at me. I looked up at him with an unreadable expression. Inside, I was hoping that he wouldn't start talking about the night before. I really didn't want him to gloat or to talk about it at all.

"So..." he said, leaning forward to talk to me. I realized I still was in a weird position from my fall. I moved my legs off the couch and sat on the floor in a more comfortable position...and less awkward.

"So..." I repeated.

"Umm...last night...what was that about?" Potter asked, almost too innocently, staring me down.

"You started it," I said quickly, giving him a look that told him not to mess with me.

"You sound like a little kid," he retorted, doing that thing with his eyebrows again.

"You should know what last night was about, Potter. You're the one that started it," I explained to him. I didn't have any answers for him.

He shook his head. "I initiated it. You kept it going."

I stared at him, mouth agape. "I did no such thing. It was all you, Potter and I officially now have no part in this." I swiftly got up from my spot on the floor and started packing together my homework from the night before.

He was watching me with a confused look on his face. "So, you're telling me that last night basically never happened?"

I whipped around, holding my things to my chest. "It's easier that way."

"Lily, that's crazy. Why can't you admit that it happened?"

I shook my head at him. "Potter, if it happened, then our whole "push and shove" relationship becomes all screwed up and personally, right now, I can't deal with that with our NEWTS and everything. I don't like you that way. Last night was a lapse in judgment and just that." He stared up at me, hurt flashing across his face. "I'm sorry if I mislead you. If it never happened, we can go back to the way it was."

Potter frowned. "That's the easy way out."

I sighed. "It may be but it's the only way that will work. Goodbye...Potter." I strode across the room to the girls' staircase as I heard a shout of "Lily!" behind me. I turned around to say one more thing. "Don't call me Lily." I pulled myself together and left.

* * *

"What happened last night?"

I turned around to see my roommate, and evil conspirator, Ellyn Hatcher, walking toward me. I turned back to the food on my plate and waited until she sat down next to me.

"Nothing," I said simply, taking a bite of my toast. Ellyn gave me a look that told me that she thought I was lying. Or knew I was lying. "Ellyn, nothing happened. Just never do one of those spells ever again."

Ellyn grinned and leaned forward, excitement glittering in her eyes. "Did it work?"

I gave Ellyn an exasperated look. "I'm not going to gave you any details, Ellyn, so it'd be better if you stopped asking now."

She stared at me for awhile, not even grabbing anything to eat. Just...stared. I stared back, a weird look on my face. She continued staring, and I started to wonder if she'd ever blinked.

"What are you doing?" I finally asked.

Ellyn still didn't blink. I began to worry for her. "Staring you down," she answered, opening her eyes even more.

My roommate is strange. "Why?"

Ellyn sighed, leaning forward even more. "Because you're lying."

We began a staring contest. "No, I'm not," I basically sing-songed.

"Lily, I've lived with you for six years. I know when you're lying. It's pretty obvious."

I huffed. "Thanks for that. I'm not lying by the way."

Ellyn crossed her arms and turned toward me, never even taking her eyes off of me. "I will find out, so it's easier if you just tell me now."

Part of me wanted to tell her, to tell _somebody_, just to sort everything out. But the other part of me didn't want anyone to know that I had given into Potter in a moment of weakness. I was supposed to hate him. What would everyone think if I suddenly liked him? I sighed, turning away from the staring game.

"Ellyn, if I tell you this, this is confidential and you can't tell anybody, _ever_," I warned her.

"I won't tell anybody, I promise." She really did look interested. And ready to give advice.

Ellyn's a good person to tell things to. I learned this through the many years of complaining to her about Potter. She gives good advice, unlike my other roommates. Kady once tried to give me advice and, unfortunately, I followed it, and ended up with detention. But I won't go into that. Ellyn sort of knows what I go through. Sirius Black likes to hit on her from time to time, but unlike me and James, she got used to it and doesn't even care. She even came up with her own responses to his lines.

I took a deep breath and whispered, "Your spell made us dance together last night."

Ellyn nodded. "That was the plan."

I gave her my exasperated look again. "I don't even want to know why you had a plan but anyway, he kissed me."

Ellyn's eyebrows shot up. "Really?" she asked, trying to hide her smile and look serious. But I saw it.

"Don't smile at that," I scolded her.

She frowned, though it was a fake frown. "Just a little kiss?"

I couldn't look at her. "No, more like...umm..."

"No way," Ellyn said, the excitement in her voice almost making the words inaudible.

I looked up and muttered, "Sirius and Remus found us on the couch together this morning." I really hoped I wasn't blushing.

Ellyn's hand flew over her mouth, and I knew she did that to cover her huge grin that I could see even without the hand. "That sucks," she said through her hand.

"Ellyn, it's not grin-worthy. What if someone found you and a guy in a compromising situation like that?" As soon as I asked her, I knew what her answer would be. "Wait, don't answer that."

Ellyn removed her hand. "Okay, yes, it's embarrassing for you. I hope they don't tell everyone in school."

My heart stopped. I swear I felt it. "...What?"  
Ellyn knew what she said was wrong. The look on her face said everything. "I mean-they won't tell anyone. I'll make sure of it." Even though she was covering up what she just said, I knew she meant it. She'd probably threaten Sirius and Remus, to think of it.

I sighed really loudly. "Great. Now I have to avoid Potter for the rest of my life."

"Just for the rest of this year. Then we'll be out of Hogwarts and it'll be easy to avoid him. Now, you sort of have to work with him."

Ellyn's advice did not help at all.

I walked into Potions twenty minutes later to see Ellyn talking to Sirius, Remus, and Peter in the back of the classroom, in whispers. I could only guess what she was threatening them with. I tried walking by them indiscreetly, but I didn't get very far.

"Oh, Lily-kins!"

I almost died. Turning around slowly, I looked at Sirius who was grinning at me.

"What?" I snapped at him.

He grabbed me into the little group and I saw Ellyn looking at him with a glare. Sirius probably wasn't heeding her warning.

"Ellyn here told me that we were sworn to secrecy about the...act...we saw this morning."

Sirius acted like he caught us in the throes of passion or something. I frowned. "Good for her," I said.

"But-" Oh no. That meant something bad was coming up. "She failed to mention that we couldn't talk about it with _you_."

"It's part of our agreement, Black. Can't talk about it with _anybody_," Ellyn explained.

"Didn't clarify that Hatcher. That means it _wasn't _part of the agreement. And now I have to catch up with my dear old friend!" Sirius basically grabbed me and threw me into a seat. He quickly grabbed the seat next to me, and grinned. Ellyn and Remus watched this, then Ellyn sighed, running off to find a seat on the other side of the room and Remus muttered something about how Sirius is strange and walked off too. I looked around and saw that Potter wasn't even here yet and class would start in a minute.

"So, Lily-kins-"

"Why are you calling me that?" I suddenly asked, turning my attention back on Sirius.

Sirius shrugged, leaning back in his chair. I found myself wishing he'd fall out of it. "Nicknames are my thing."

I rolled my eyes and saw Kady, the blonde bad-advice-giver in my dormitory, walk in and basically stop in the middle of the doorway when she saw me talking to Sirius. Because I would never do this normally. I actually don't even know why I'm doing it now.

"Details, Lily-kins."

I stared at Sirius for a second, and then said, strongly, "no". I pushed my chair back quickly, getting up and turning around for a fast exit. But instead of open air, I hit something and almost toppled to the ground. Something caught me before I fell and I held on for dear life.

"Watch where you going next time, Evans."

The phrase would have normally been said by a Slytherin. I expected to see a Slytherin. But I knew it wasn't by the voice.

I looked up, almost regrettably, to see Potter staring back at me, with no expression on his face. "Sorry, I just-" I couldn't go on. His words still rang in my ears.

With a stony expression, he let me go and sat where I was previously sitting, not even acknowledging me again.

I just stood there, mouth open in shock. Potter just basically blew me off. He _hated_ me.

"Ms. Evans, can you go find a seat?" I focused to see Professor Slughorn talking to me. Without a word, I glanced back at Potter, who didn't even flinch when he heard my name.

In shock, I walked over to where Ellyn was sitting and flopped into the seat next to her. She looked at me sympathetically and I ignored her.

Whatever happened to the old Potter? Just last week he would have said a lame pick-up line if I had crashed into him. Probably something like "fallen for me already?". It was the opposite now. I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

I didn't know why this was upsetting me so much. I went over all the facts at lunch. I didn't even like Potter. I had a moment of weakness and snogged him, yes, but that didn't mean I was magically supposed to like him and go out with him the day after. I was just...concerned. I don't like it when people are angry at me. Potter always took my insults and refusals quite nicely, making jokes and smiling after them. I could take that. It was a nice exchange. Now the whole system was screwed up.

"LILY!"

I looked up quickly, almost getting whip flash. "What?" I asked.

The whole table was staring at me. "I was...asking about Potions," Kady said.

"Oh," I murmured, then shook my head. "I don't know."

Kady exchanged a confused look with Ellyn. "I didn't ask anything yet."

I frowned. "Right."

Ellyn switched the subject quickly, knowing what I was thinking about. "James is being an idiot today." I followed her gaze down the table to where they were sitting. Potter was listening to whatever Sirius was rambling about and Remus was working on some essay. Peter was eating, though that wasn't a surprise. I looked back at her.

"Potter has always been an idiot," I said, "He's just really being a idiot today."

I couldn't elaborate because Kady was here and she didn't know the whole situation. And I really didn't feel like telling her now.

Ellyn nodded. "Free period after lunch. Maybe we can work on our essays for Potions in our dorm." I understood. Ellyn would tell Kady for me and we wouldn't actually work on our essays.

Ten minutes later, lunch ended and we got up to leave for the dormitories. Sirius ended up following us to the Great Hall, randomly interjecting our conversation with questions and phrases. I think he was trying to be annoying on purpose. But I was thankful that Potter hadn't followed him.

"You guys have free period now, right?" Sirius asked, walking in front of us and backwards at the same time. I found myself hoping he'd fall for the second time today.

"You already know that," I said.

"You know who also has free period? James!" Sirius said as if it were the best thing in the world.

"I'm not on speaking terms with him right now," I exclaimed, which was sort of true. If he wouldn't talk nice to me, I wouldn't talk to him at all.

"But I know he'd like it if you guys talked."

I gave Sirius a weird look. "Sirius, I doubt that. I don't think he'd ever want to talk to me again."

Sirius sighed. "It's James. He'd love it. He's just being moody."

"Are you trying to play matchmaker or something?" I questioned him, "Because there's a couple problems with that. First, it won't work. Second, it's weird. And third, I think Ellyn already has that role."

Sirius grinned. "First, maybe. Second, it's not. And third, I don't mind. We'll work together. We work great together. Don't we, El?"

Ellyn looked at him, and said, with a sigh, "Nope."

See what I mean about how Ellyn just doesn't care? I wish I could do that.

Sirius shrugged. "Well, my work here is done. Until Ellyn and I come up with an awesome plan to get you two together. Say, nine tonight. My dorm? We can _plan_." Sirius had on his famous smirks that made girls melt. Well, most.

"I'll make sure I plan something tonight so I don't have to come," Ellyn said calmly, and we left Sirius in the hallway by himself.

* * *

"_What_?!" Kady almost screamed.

I can't believe we told her. By tomorrow, everyone will probably know.

I was lying on my stomach on my bed, my Potions essay in front of me. Of course, I wasn't working on it. But I wanted to. I was sick of all this Potter talk.

I glanced up to see Kady looking at me incredulously. Great.

"Thinking about it, it's all your fault, Ellyn," I said, offhandedly.

Ellyn shrugged. "Yeah, but I didn't make you guys have a snog fest in the common room."

I frowned at her. "Everyone has a moment of weakness. That was mine."

Ellyn twirled a quill between her fingers and looked up at the ceiling. "Why was James so angry at you today?"

It was then I realized I didn't tell her about what happened this morning. I cringed. "I sort of told him to forget it ever happened. And that I didn't like him."

Ellyn almost fell off her bed. "What!? Lily, are you crazy?"

I shook my head. "It was the truth. I had to tell him the truth."

"Just tell me you weren't so brutally honest with him. Tell me that you let him down easy."

There was a pause as I thought of what to say. "Couldn't you tell by the way he treated me today?" I finally said, with a sigh.

Ellyn and Kady sighed too. "So, what are you going to do?" Kady asked.

I took about it for a second. "Nothing," I decided, looking up at the confused faces of Kady and Ellyn.

"Please explain," Ellyn said slowly.

"I'll just leave it alone for now. Maybe it'll work it out by itself." I picked up my quill and started on my Potions essay.

"You know that just means I have to come up with a plan to get you together since you won't do anything."

I grinned at Ellyn. "You know that means that Sirius is going to find out and invite you into his dorm again."

Ellyn shrugged. "Oh well." Kady and I grinned at each other and got to work on our essays.

And it worked. I had two classes with Potter after lunch and ignored him the entire time. Didn't say even one word to him. And he ignored me back. Okay, maybe it didn't work. He was supposed to say he was sorry and he was being a jerk. I felt even worse than I did before.

It was night and everyone was in the common room, working on essays and other various bits of things. Lily was sitting with Ellyn, talking about Potions.

"James is sitting over there," Ellyn suddenly said.

I put down my quill and looked over to where she was looking. "No, I'm not talking to him." He was sitting on the couch, yes, _that_ couch, talking to Sirius occasionally, and then working on something that had to do with writing. Maybe his Potions essay. He looked calm, normal. Which was a nice change from his expression this morning. But I knew as soon as I would walk over there, he'd change his expression and cause me to feel bad all over again.

Ellyn tilted her head at me. I hate it when people do that. It's like they're trying to act inquisitive...but fail. "Lily, you have to talk to him sometime. He's Head Boy."

"Yes, but I can also delay talking to him until I absolutely have to," I explained.

This whole situation was really ironic, come to think of it. Usually, this whole thing would have been opposite. I would have done something to James and then he would try to find something to make it up to me, but, instead, he would make himself look even worse and end up asking me out again. And then I would yell at him. It was a vicious cycle. But it was also comforting. We both had gotten used to it.

"Talk to him," Ellyn basically ordered me.

Sometimes Ellyn gets on my nerves. "I don't want to. I'm not talking to him, and that's final."

Ellyn glared at me. Glared. "I'll make you."

She's good with threats. They just don't work on me. "Try me." I glared back.

"There's a lot of ways for me to get you to talk to James," she said, still holding that glare.

I held it too. "Fine. It's almost nine. Why don't you go find Sirius and meet him up in his dorm?"

Ellyn stood up quickly, startling me. "Maybe I will," she said defiantly.

There was a pause as I just processed what happened. Did Ellyn just- "Are you saying that-"

Ellyn grinned, sitting back down. "I'm kidding. Honestly."

I started laughing, realizing it was her plan to stop the argument between us. "You really scared me for a second there."

Ellyn grin faded quickly, and saw she was looking behind me. I slowly turned around to see Potter standing behind me. So I just stared at him.

"Umm...Evans, can I talk to you?" Potter finally asked.

Ellyn looked at me. I looked at her. Then we both looked at Potter. "Okay," I said quietly.

I got up, leaving Ellyn with a shrug, and walked over to a remote corner with Potter.

"I was thinking about what you said this morning," Potter announced.

I nodded, hoping that he wouldn't start saying awful things to me again.

"And, well, maybe you're right."

I raised my eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, and since we have to work together this year, maybe we can just be friends and keep it at that."

Potter was offering to stop asking me out. I almost started jumping out of happiness. "Um, sure," I said out loud, but inside I was dancing. "Does that mean I actually have to be civil to you now?" I joked.

Potter grinned. "I hope so. Friends don't really yell at each other."

"Or dance in circles," I muttered under my breath. Potter raised an eyebrow, and I realized he must have heard something. "So, when's the next meeting?" I asked him, trying to cover up the comment.

"Next Monday. It's mainly for the prefects but we have supervise it." I nodded. "So, since we're friends and all now, does that mean we can call each other by our actual names? Cause this Evans and Potter thing is totally "I-hate-you" material."

I rolled my eyes at the comment, and chuckled. "Sure, _James_."

"All right, _Lily_."

It was different. But I kind of liked it.


	3. A Saturday

I have a proposition for you guys. Right now I have 3 reviews for this story and it's upsetting me...just a bit. So, I was thinking that if I got 15 reviews, I'll start writing a new story based off the play/musical Spring Awakening which I wasn't planning on doing. So, not only will you get this story (that's based of The Wedding Singer), but you'll get a second exciting one. Now I know you guys want to review. Please?

* * *

The week flew by fast. It was a normal week; classes, work, classes, a couple breaks. I was really looking forward to our Hogsmeade trip next weekend. It was finally Saturday, the weekend, a week until Hogsmeade, a day of rest. Rest. That's what I was enjoying at the moment. Resting in my bed until at least ten. Mostly everyone in my dormitory was a morning person; the only ones that weren't were me, Ellyn, and Kady. That's probably why I was closer to them than any of the other girls.

"It's mooooorn-ing! The sun-un-un is coming up in the SKY!" Somehow I had gotten used to getting up with the shouts of Sirius Black. Or singing in this case.

Ellyn and Kady definitely weren't used to it.

Kady screamed and Ellyn almost fell out of her bed. Well, she did. But she took her covers with her.

I hid my smile at the sight in front of me and then looked over at the door to see Remus, James, and Sirius. Sirius was laughing, James was grinning, and even Remus had a small smile on his face.

Kady tried to hide under her covers while Ellyn tried to untangle herself from her's. "Urgh, stupid guys, stupid morning, stupid Saturday..." Ellyn was muttering to herself angrily, having trouble with the covers.

Kady stared at them with wide eyes beneath her covers. I sat up, draping my covers around my shoulders. "Wait. How did you guys get up here?" I questioned.

James grinned. "Almost seven years here and you really think we never found a way to get through the spell on the staircases? Really, you underestimated me."

I should have known.

"Is that Kady under there?" Remus asked, tilting his head to look at the intrapersonal girl underneath the covers.

"Maybe, I'm not that sure," I answered, noticing the glare I received from a pair of eyes peeking out.

Ellyn finally untangled herself, throwing her covers on her bed angrily, still muttering about how much she hated guys, mornings, and other things.

"Shut up," she suddenly yelled, pointing over to the group of guys. We all looked at her weird. "He's going to say something," she almost shouted this hysterically. We all continued our strange looks.

I glanced over to the group of guys to see Sirius with his mouth open, ready to say something.

Oh. Should have known.

Ellyn immediately threw the covers over herself and frowned, glaring at the guys.

I love my friends.

"It's Saturday," James announced.

"Iiiiiiiiiiiit's...SAT-UR-DAY! Yes, it is. Oh yeah, because it's SAT-UR-DAAAYYY," Sirius suddenly sang out of nowhere. Kady hid even further underneath her covers. Ellyn flinched, and I almost thought she was going to fall out of her bed again.

"Free day," Remus said.

"Nothing planned today. Nothing at A-A-ALL. We are FREE-E-E-E-E-E!" I think we all flinched this time.

"Get dressed and let's go," James said slowly, and I could see him fearing the worst notes from Sirius.

"Get DRESSED and LET'S..." There was a huge breath and we all braced ourselves. "GOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Oh. My. God," Ellyn whispered.

Kady looked like she was in too much shock to talk.

I stared, looking from Ellyn to Kady, not knowing what to actually say.

"So, um, we'll be waiting downstairs," Remus said, quickly shoving Sirius out of the door before he could sing anything else. James followed them, giving us all a sympathetic smile before closing the door on the way out.

"I think I just died," Ellyn informed us, grimacing.

* * *

"Plans?" James brandished a piece of toast, waving it through the air.

"Catching up on some reading, maybe," Remus said.

"Date with Julia today," Sirius announced, with a smile.

"Ummm...I'm not sure," Peter muttered.

"And I have nothing," James said, sighing.

All of us girls watched the scene plan out. It still felt strange that they were sitting across from us at our table.

"Plans?" James looked at us. It was like their code word or something. Someone would say 'plans' and immediately you'd have to list off your plans for the day.

"Um, I don't know, nothing?" Kady finally said, shrugging.

"Going back to sleep," Ellyn muttered. She was still fuming about this morning. On a normal Saturday, she would have slept in till at least noon. It was nine right now.

"Doing...nothing," I said, "Looks like an eventful Saturday." Really. There wasn't anything to do.

We all munched on our breakfast, thinking about something to do. I looked across from me to see a grin spread over James's face. "Sirius, cancel your date," James exclaimed, catching our attention.

Sirius scoffed. Yes, scoffed. "But-it's Julia. From Ravenclaw. _Julia_ the _Ravenclaw_, James!" He really, desperately, wanted to go on this date with this girl. I'd met her once. She was the type of girl that, well, I don't really get along with. Very...outgoing. That's the least I can say.

"Yeah, she's annoying, Sirius, really. All right, now, everyone meet me up on the third floor in one hour," James told us, standing up, taking his toast with him.

"But-I'll be sleeping!" Ellyn complained.

"But-_Julia_!" Sirius whined.

"But-_stop complaining_!" James mocked them. The rest of us smiled at the mockery. "One hour..." he reminded us, walking off.

"Where on the third floor?" Kady whispered to me and I shrugged in response. Only time would tell what James had gotten us into.

* * *

"This is stupid," Ellyn said loudly, making sure everyone in the corridor heard her.

"Why are we just standing here?" Kady said in the same tone.

"Because we said we would be," I replied.

We did look really stupid though. Just standing here, in the middle of the corridor, watching everyone pass us and give us strange looks.

I turned around, looking down the corridor for the guys to come parading down. I started counting the random people that passed me. Savannah from Hufflepuff. We sometimes work together in Charms. She gave me a small smile in recognization. Robert from Ravenclaw. He smiled at me also, and I smiled back. He's a nice guy...cute too. I had a small crush on him back in 5th year but it never progressed from that. Suddenly, I was whipped around as someone grabbed my hand and dragged me along with them.

"Come on!" I recovered from my shock and realized it was James dragging me along with everyone following behind us.

"Where are we going?" I asked anyone that would answer. The only answer I got was James glancing at me with a grin. I guess that wasn't really an answer.

We skidded to a stop in front of that humpbacked witch statue. Wow. A statue. I turned to make a sarcastic remark to the guys to see Ellyn pointing behind me. I turned back around to see a tunnel behind the statue.

"Oh," I said softly.

A secret passageway. Wait. I turned to James, who was still grinning. "Ladies first," he announced, waving his hand to let me through.

I gave him a look. "Where does this lead and how did you find it?"

"It's a secret."

I turned to see Ellyn and Kady looking down the tunnel. We all just stood there.

"Go before someone sees," Sirius finally said behind us.

"Fine," Ellyn said, going first.

I followed her in and Kady went last. It looked like it was a long tunnel. I got out my wand. "Lumos," I whispered, as my wand lit up and delivered some light to the darkness. Everyone else followed me, and soon, we could see clearly. We walked in silence for a couple minutes.

"Really, where are we going?" Ellyn finally asked, breaking the silence, making me jump a bit.

"Nowhere," all the guys answered in unison.

Ellyn muttered some obscenities under her breath. I had to stop myself from laughing. Finally, I felt the ground begin to incline. The ceiling almost hit my head, but I ducked and stopped. James moved forward to the front and cleared his throat.

"All right. What you are about to see is a Marauder secret. You must not tell anyone. Ever. Got it?"

I shrugged with an 'okay' and got a glare in response. "It's serious, Lily," Sirius announced. I rolled my eyes.

James pushed up on the ceiling, and I saw an amount of dirt fall down. He moved out of the way and then cracked up what looked like a trap door. Peering out into the light, he nodded and said, "Okay. Let's go."

The door was pushed upon and hit the floor with a soft bang. I followed James out to see a cellar with random items on the shelf. We all filed out and glanced around.

"We're in Honeydukes," Kady said, twirling around, taking everything in.

James nodded in agreement. "Indeed, we are."

Honeydukes? Hogsmeade? But...that meant..."That was a secret tunnel to _Hogsmeade_?" I asked incredulously.

"Indeed, it was," Sirius said.

"But-"

"Nice way to spend a Saturday, isn't it?" Remus added.

A slow grin appeared over my face, and I didn't even try to hide my excitement. "This is _awesome_," I said, walking over to the shelf and looking at the items.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ellyn suddenly said, walking over to the door, cracking it open a bit. She glanced out and waved us over.

We all slowly filed out, mingling with the rest of the people in the shop.

"Hey! Bertie Botts!" Ellyn picked up a box next to me. "I know what color the vomit ones are. Want to get them and give them to Sirius?"

On a normal day, Ellyn wouldn't be acting like this. She was shrug off whatever Sirius threw her way. Today, though, since she was unwittingly woken up at an "ungodly hour", she was getting her revenge.

"That's just evil," I said, picking up sugar quills.

"Getting people up early on Saturdays is evil," Ellyn replied darkly, rushing off to buy the box.

About ten minutes later, I looked around the store and noticed I didn't see anyone. They could have left but I didn't know where.

"ELLYN! KADY!" I shouted over the mass of people in the store.

"LILY!" I heard Kady's voice shout back. I pushed myself through the people, almost getting trampled over twice and finally saw her on the other side of the store next to the door. "Oh, Lily, I thought I lost you. Come on, we're going to the Three Broomsticks!" Kady urged me out of the door where the rest of the gang was waiting.

"Yes!" Sirius did a little jig and we made our way to the Three Broomsticks. "Butterbeer, here we come!" Everyone else stepped back a couple paces, determined not to be seen with him. Or even as knowing him.

It wasn't full at the Three Broomsticks. During a Hogsmeade weekend, it was usually impossible to get in. Today, it was only about half full.

There was a table for three people on one side and three on the other. There was also a chair on the very end, which Peter took right away. I was about to sit between Ellyn and Kady when Sirius rushed in and took the chair, almost toppling it over.

"Oh, no," Ellyn groaned, getting ready to stand up, "I'm moving."

Sirius grabbed her arm, setting her back down at the table. "Oh, no, you're not. You're sitting next to me."

"Wouldn't you rather be sitting next to Julia?" Ellyn asked, the exasperation and frustration evident in her voice.

I watched with curiosity as Ellyn and Sirius "talked", if you could call it that, and sat down in the first chair on the other side with James and Remus.

"Hey, if I'm not with Julia, at least I'm with you," Sirius said, with that smirk again.

"I really wished I had the flu right now and was sick in bed, puking, rather than being here with you," Ellyn exclaimed, crossing her arms and standing up again to move.

"Touché," Sirius commented.

"Just sit down, Ellyn," I spoke up, "Kady's right on the other side of you. It doesn't matter."

Ellyn frowned as she slowly sat down. She kept the frown on her face as long as she could.

"What'll I get you kids?" I looked up to see the owner standing there, waiting for our order.

We all looked at each other and finally Sirius spoke up, leaning back in his chair casually. "Seven butterbeers, my good lady."

Once again, I wished I wasn't associated with him. The owner gave Sirius a weird look, and waved her wand. Seven butterbeers floated our way and rested in front of us.

"Sorry about him," James whispered to the middle-aged owner. "He's a bit..._special_."

I nodded in agreement, taking a sip of my drink.

The owner tilted her head at us (did I mention how much I hate it when people do that?), and smiled. "You guys really do make a cute couple."

She was talking about James and I. As a couple. In front of our friends. I almost died. Wait. I was going to die. I wanted to die. Why couldn't I just die right here and now?

I couldn't look at my friends. I couldn't look at James. What were they thinking? There was an awkward pause.

"I hate to tell you, but we're not a couple," James finally said, and I turned to look at him. "We're sister and brother."

Wait-_what?!_ James winked at me, and I raised an eyebrow at him. The owner looked confused.

Two could play at this game. "Oh yes, James here is my brother. And he's the slow one," I said with a grin.

James looked at me with a smirk. Nothing he could say would top mine. "She's an idiot according to mother," James announced sincerely.

A snicker went around the table, and I put on my game face. "It takes one to know one." An 'oooh' went around the table this time. Lily won.

James and I bought looked at the owner who was looking at us like we were crazy. "We're not together," James ended, holding back his laugh. I was stifling mine also.

"You already told her that, _James,_" I said, looking back at him. "I told you he was the slow one," I whispered.

James playfully swatted me on the shoulder. I hit him back and it became a hitting game. By now, we had scared away the owner. As soon as she went out of sight, the whole table burst into laughter.

"That was...priceless," Kady was able to say through her laughter.

Sirius highfived James across the table.

It ended up taking us longer than we thought to drink our butterbeers because we couldn't stop laughing.

"Brother and sister, huh?" Sirius exclaimed, walking in front of us and backwards...again. He really needs to fall at least one time.

James grinned. "Thought it'd throw off the owner. It was pretty hilarious."

I side glanced at him. "A harmless prank this time. Nice," I commented. I had to admit-it was pretty funny. The owner was definitely caught off guard and probably was embarrassed to death.

"What is our Head Boy and Girl planning for our seventh year?" Kady suddenly asked.

James looked at me and I looked back. "Nothing yet," I finally answered. Which was true. We hadn't even started thinking about it. Yet, everyone was relying on the Head Boy and Girl to come up with some extravagant formal event. Great.

"Oh, a ball!"

It was Kady who suggested that _thing_. And everyone immediately agreed, talking over each other saying things about how great extravagant parties with flowy gowns and dress robes are. And I decided to say something about it.

"Clichéd," I sang-songed over the clamor.

The silence was immediate after. Everyone turned to look at me with a look of shock on their faces. "But-" Kady came forward, stumbling over her words, "There has to be at least one time where we get to dress up and have fun!" she said desperately.

Kady is the type of person who is freakishly shy, but when you take her to a huge social event, she knows how to loosen up. Makes no sense, really, but she really does love those parties.

"A small one?" Kady pleaded with me.

I glanced at her, wearily and simply said, "It's too cliché!"

Suddenly, James was kneeling on the ground in front of me, tugging at my robe and clasping together his hands in a pleading way. He was really good at pleading. He had this sort of pleadingness in his eyes that was all too innocent for him but he probably got away with it many a time.

"S'il vous plait?" he asked, in an almost whine, as he looked up at me with that look.

Smart alleck.

"I'm not going to have a ball!" I said, stubbornly, once again.

"How about...hmm...a feast?" Ellyn offered, shrugging her shoulders.

Ellyn is the type of person who is very social and can enjoy parties if she wants to-but she really doesn't care.

And, if you haven't figured it out yet, I hate balls/parties/whatever because it just seems too...Cinderella for me. Full of clichés.

"A dinner party!" Remus added, looking to me for my answer. I saw Peter behind Remus nodding enthusiastically.

A dinner party. Hmm... "Well, it's not the same as a ball. I suppose we could." I covered my ears quickly and everyone started cheering, or in Sirius's case, starting lists off girls he would go with. Yes, girls, plural. "As long as no one calls it a ball!" I added, trying to keep a straight face with all the smiles around me.

"A formal dinner party!" Kady said suddenly.

I groaned. This was going to turn into a ball.

* * *

"Would James Potter and Lily Evans please present their ideas for our next formal event?" the prefect from Hufflepuff announced. He's the one that proclaimed that we _needed_ a podium to conducts our meetings from. Like they're supposed to be this professional business meetings. Yeah, right.

James and I got up from our chairs and stood awkwardly from behind this podium. It was really tall and I could barely see over it. So far, so good.

"Okay," James raised the level of volume in his voice and leaned forward on the podium in a very unbusiness-like manner. "We're here to discuss the possibility of a formal dinner party." James knew how to work an audience perfectly. He was just a leader at heart. And maybe if I could see over the podium, I could be too.

Holly, prefect from Gryffindor, raised her hand. I saw her and pointed at her. "Yes, Holly?"

She stood up, looking as awkward as me (not James anymore; he actually looked comfortable leaning against that podium). "Um, is a formal dinner party like a ball?"

I frowned. James tried to hold back a laugh. I stood on my tiptoes and finally saw over the podium. "No, it isn't a ball. It's a _formal dinner party_. It's basically normal dinner, except that we're dressed up in formal attire, and we stand around conversing during the entire dinner."

Everyone stared back at me with blank faces.

Gus from Slytherin raised his hand, standing up before we even got a chance to call on him. "Does formal attire mean ball gowns and dress robes?"

My frown became worse. "No, no ball gowns. It isn't a ball. Girls can wear dresses, but they have to be very casual. No huge gowns and tiaras and glittery shoes. And guys wear dress robes. It's as simple as that."

A murmur went around the room. Most people were complaining over the "no ball gown" rule. But, really, this wasn't a ball. It was a simple formal dinner party.

"So, formal dinner party on November 15th?" James questioned, staring people down from that podium that was supporting all his weight.

They stared back at us. We stared them back down. All those staring games with Ellyn really paid off. That one Hufflepuff prefect who's name I actually never got stood up. "It sounds...good. Call to a vote?"

See what I mean about the professional business thing? "Yes, that's a good idea," I replied.

"All in favor, say aye," James announced. It amazed me that James knew all these terms and the process.

"Aye," the chorus of prefects rang out.

They actually agreed. I almost hugged James in happiness. James turned to me with a grin on his face and said, somewhat seriously, "Looks like you got your," he used air quotations, "_dinner party_." I grinned back, and started to casually hit him for the quotations. He just laughed and then turned back to the crowd.

It was then I realized I actually _really_ liked having James for a friend.


	4. A Look

"_Dinner party!_" I heard a shout in my ear. It was Friday and I had a fleeting moment where I wondered who had woken me up. I cracked upon an eye to see a pair of blue-green eyes staring back at me. Oh, Kady.

"What about it?" I muttered, turning over so I could go back to sleep.

Kady suddenly appeared on the other side of my bed. "Tomorrow is our first _official _Hogsmeade trip!" she exclaimed, almost jumping up and down on her toes. On weekends, she can sleep in till noon and be the laziest person ever but on weekdays, she's up and running as soon as her alarm goes off. Kady likes to contradict herself.

"Urgh," I muttered in response.

"And we're only two weeks away from our dinner party. So you know what that means, don't you?" Kady asked, appearing inches away from my face. I crept back slowly, trying to get back to sleep and didn't answer her.

Kady sighed and I heard her scramble away, probably to go bug Ellyn.

"LADIES!"

Wait. That wasn't Kady.

"Sirius Black, if you think you're making it a daily thing to come up here, you're sadly mistaken," I said into my pillow, not even caring to open my eyes and look at him.

"It's Friday. And since you weren't already up, I came to get you guys," Sirius explained.

I heard someone groan on the other side of the room and lifted up my head to see Ellyn throw her blanket around her shoulders and leave into the bathroom without a word. This was more like the Ellyn I knew. Just didn't care.

"See, you guys, or gals, I should say. Ellyn had the right idea. Now go!"

I looked over at Kady. "I'm already dressed," Kady pointed out.

Sirius nodded. "That you are. But Lily here isn't. And whoever this is." Sirius poked the nearest bed that was occupied. Hmm...Laura, I think. Sirius went out with her in fifth year for a brief two weeks. He probably doesn't remember. If Laura was awake, I think she'd start crying about how Sirius finally came back to her. She's just that melodramatic.

"If you leave, I'll get up, Sirius," I finally said from underneath my sheets.

"Righty-o." And just like that, there was a soft sound of a door being closed and feet clambering down the stairs.

I finally lifted the covers off me and sat up, stretching a bit. The bathroom door suddenly opened and Ellyn came out, still wrapped up in her blanket. Immediately, she went over to her bed and flopped down on it.

Kady groaned. "You can't just go back to bed. Friday. Last day of the week. _Classes_." With a look and a yawn, I finally got up and started to get ready for another day of classes. Wonderful.

* * *

"Where's Ellyn?" Kady asked as I finally made my way to the table in the Great Hall.

"Ellyn? What about her?" I joked, with the most serious face I could muster. Kady looked at me skeptically.

"You know. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Outgoing. Probably going to miss her first class?" Kady suggested.

I shrugged. "If she wants, let her miss today. We've had a long week."

Kady grumbled as she went back to her food. I sat down next to her, surprised to not see the guys sitting across from us. Where were they?

Sadly, I got my answer as Sirius came dancing, _dancing_ (I am not joking) into the Great Hall. Well, flailing I guess. And singing some random song that had no words. All I heard was "dodo-d-do...dodo-d-do...". As I watched Sirius flail and...sing, I guess, I felt some movement behind me. I turned around to see that James, Remus, and Peter had slid into their seats.

"Sirius has got a date with Delilah tomorrow night. We're giving this one one night." James leaned forward and explained in a whisper.

"Does Sirius dance and sing like that every time he gets a date?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at his quirky behavior.

"Pretty much," Remus said. We all sat in silence for a second just to watch the crazy dancing. Then I noticed Ellyn walk through the entrance, trying to get past Sirius and his dancing.

She saw me and mouthed 'what is he doing' to me, pointing weirdly at the oblivious guy next to her. I shrugged, grinning at the sight. Ellyn finally found a way around Sirius, but not before he saw her.

"Hey! Ellyn!" He momentarily stopped his dancing/singing. "What're doing tonight?"

Ellyn didn't even stop. She chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Laughing at your expense."

Sirius frowned at her response, and I did too. What did she mean? Just then, I noticed a dark-haired girl standing to the side, watching the entire thing. Delilah Renbek. And, boy, did she look angry.

"Mmm...I give it until five minutes from now," I softly said to the guys.

Ellyn sat down and we all turned around to watch another infamous "got-caught-looking" fight between Sirius and Delilah.

* * *

"Lily!" Anna from Hufflepuff. I sped up, trying to lose her. She's not that...smart, to say the least. "Lily! I have questions about the ball!"

Ball.

Great.

"Yes?" I finally turned around. Ann ran up to me, her gold curls bouncing with each step.

"What is a "ball gown" exactly? Because I got this amazing dress with these sequins and -"

Her mouth kept moving but I decided to tune the noise out. What was so hard to comprehend about "casual dress"? Honestly.

"And I have these high-heeled shoes that are kind of like slippers but high-heeled..."

It was honestly a bad idea to have anything remotely social. What was I thinking? The next thing I know they'll start asking about danc-

"And I was thinking that we should clear a space for a dance floor. Not a big one, but big enough for some of us to dance-"

Great. I jinxed myself.

"And I think it should be required to come with dates-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I stopped her there. She stopped rambling and looked at me. "Dates? It's a dinner party. Anna, you don't need dates."

"But it's good idea. And if you don't show up with a date, you're deemed a loser anyway so we should just make it rule-"

"I'll talk it over with James," I interrupted her, getting as far away as I could. Really. Dates. That would be for a ball.

"Lily Evans!" Charlotte from Ravenclaw. She's okay I guess. Not as bad as Anna.

Once again, I stopped in the middle of the corridor and turned around with a smile. "Yes?"

Charlotte stopped in front of me, her bookbag swinging from her shoulders and almost hitting me. I stepped back a little. "Well, I heard about your dinner party." Yes, dinner party. "And I'm just wondering what kind of food we will have."

I felt extremely relieved that she didn't start asking about our imaginary "ball". "Well, I guess James and I will come up with a menu or something."

Charlotte nodded and said, "Thanks, Lily" before running off to whatever class she had next. I sighed in relief, walking quickly to Transfiguration before anyone else could stop me.

"Lily!"

I turned away quickly. "No, it isn't a ball. No, you can't wear a ball gown. No, no, no!" I answered quickly before anyone could ask anything.

"But I wanted to wear a ball gown..." Instantly, I recognized the voice.

"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have a social event," I groaned to James, turning back around after giving James a look. He followed me to Transfiguration as I continued to rant. "Everyone keeps coming up to me and asking about our "ball"."

James snorted. "Just what you wanted."

"Shut up. And they keep asking about dates for the dinner party which is totally ridiculous-"

"Makes sense, though," James said, "Any time a social event comes around, girls expect the guys to ask them. It's an unwritten code."

I frowned. I've been doing a lot of frowning lately, I've noticed. "But it's not supposed to be like that. That's what I was trying to get away from." I sighed, trying to keep up with James's long strides.

James finally slowed down. He caught my gaze and held it. "Any time there's a social event-" he started to say slower.

"I know that!" I almost shouted, clenching my fists, "You just said that. So, who are you asking?" I added, making him stop in the corridor. I stopped before crashing into him.

"Well, I was thinking of asking Patricia," James announced, saying it slowly as if he was thinking it through as he said it.

"The 6th year?" I questioned.

"Yeah." James started walking again and I followed him. It was taking us forever to get to Transfiguration. James probably noticed because he picked up his speed, which meant I was basically jogging next to him.

It was weird now. James wasn't talking anymore. It looked as if he was just thinking about getting to his next class. He acted as if I wasn't there. Was he trying to ignore me?

"James..." I said softly.

Then he turned and looked at me.

All he did was look at me, yet, I could tell he was hiding something in his stare. Something dark, secretive, and for once, I couldn't tell.

I shook my head. "Never mind." We finally got into the Transfiguration classroom, and I immediately took my seat next to Ellyn. Ellyn glanced at me with a 'hi'. Shaking my head, I didn't reply.

All it was was a look. Then why was I freaking out?

* * *

"Have you ever gotten a look from a guy?" I asked casually that night in the dormitory. Sadly, all my roommates were there so I couldn't explain what had exactly happened.

"A couple times," Laura answered from behind her Witch Weekly magazine.

"Like what do you mean?" Rose questioned, reading her novel (probably some strange romance novel knowing her) upside down on her bed. "A lustful one?"

I shot Rose an annoyed look, almost scoffing in the process. "No, not like that. Like it was...dark, but not in the lustful way. Capturing, secretive. You can't tell what they're thinking but...you can."

"Stop freaking out Lily," Amy said, turning around from her Potions essay. "It probably was just your imagination."

Amy doesn't have any imagination. All she does is work on homework. I really can't stand her but I've never told that to her face.

I groaned. "What if...it startled you and you don't know what to make of it?"

"Go make out with the bloke Lily," Laura finally said, "and then find out."

I almost said something that wouldn't have been very smart for me to reveal. I stopped myself before divulging my secrets. "No," I said out loud, "I can't. He's not my...type. I don't like him like that at all."

"Then stop freaking out," Amy exclaimed, not even bothering to turn around.

I _really_ don't like her.

Ellyn looked at me with a quizzical face. "Have you?" I asked her, quietly, trying to ignore the other girls.

"Hmm..." Ellyn murmured in the affirmative.

"Recently?" I added, quite surprised.

"Hmm..." Ellyn said again.

"Really? From who?" I asked. How come she never told me about this? At least before now.

"Stephen."

"Stephen? 6th year Gryffindor chaser Stephen?" Really. That was news to me.

Ellyn shrugged. "Yeah."

I almost hit her for being so casual about it. "And why aren't you going out with him then!?"

Ellyn laughed, leaning back on her bed to hide behind the book I got her from Christmas last year (Uncommon Spells). "I'm not going to go out with every guy that gives me a stupid look, Lily. You've got to be crazy."

This happened more than once? Why was I just being informed now? "How many times?"

Ellyn waved me off. "Oh, I don't know. I don't count how many looks I get. It doesn't mean anything. Any guy can give a girl a look. Forget about it, Lily."

"Kady?" I called across the room.

The half-asleep girl grumbled in response. Serves her right for getting me up this morning. Well, Sirius too, but it was mostly her.

"Have you ever gotten a look from a guy?"

The other girls in the room weren't even paying attention. Kady sighed loudly. "I don't know what you mean. Let me sleep." And with that, she disappeared underneath her covers.

* * *

"Lily Evans!" I was really getting sick of my name by this point. Especially since I was woken up at an ungodly hour again this Saturday by an overly enthusiastic Kady. But, seriously, it was only a dinner party. Getting up early to shop at Hogsmeade for a dinner party is definitely a little enthusiastic.

I took a deep breath before turning around this time. "Yes?"

There, standing in front of me, was Robert Sharpe. The same Robert from Ravenclaw that I had that embarrassing crush on in 5th year. That was a bad year for me in general. Though he was really cute, I had to admit. Wavy light brown hair that fell into his gorgeous light blue eyes.

I need to stop thinking like this.

"How are you?" he asked me, like he talked to me all of the time.

But he didn't. This would have been the first time he'd _ever_ talked to me. "Um, well, good, I guess," I answered, biting my lip.

He smiled slightly, following me as I walked down to the grounds for some fresh air. "That's good. Looking forward to our Hogsmeade trip?"

Then it hit me.

He wanted to ask me.

This is what Ellyn was talking about before. He was flirting with me. He wanted to go with me. Or was I jumping to conclusions? Was I just freaking out for no reason? Maybe I should just answer his question. "Yeah, especially because of all that "dinner party shopping"."

That was calm. That was cool. That was collected.

"Was the dinner party your idea?" I found myself listening to the tone of his voice. It was soft, medium pitch, very smooth. Very...suave, in a word. It fit with his look. It was the type of voice girls went mad for. He'd probably be a baritone if he ever sang in a choir.

Oh, yes, I had to answer his question. "Yeah, I decided on a dinner party because I hate huge formal events." Good answer.

He did that smile again. It was a half smile. Though it still reached his eyes. Why was I thinking about stuff like this? I was supposed to listen to him. The guy walking with me. The guy who could possibly be asking me out.

"I thought you'd be the type of girl who would love to dress up and have a formal ball."

What type of girl did he think I was? "What type of girl do you think I am?" Oh, I really didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Hmm..." Robert stopped and pondered over the question. It made me shake with nerves. "A carefree, fun, exciting, nice, pretty girl..."

Pretty.

He called me pretty.

I couldn't be falling for this guy. I didn't know him. Well, of course, I had had that crush on him. But that didn't mean he was supposed to reciprocate my feelings. This was weird. This had never happened to me before.

Ellyn would know what to do.

But first I had to get away from Robert.

"Um, Robert, it was really, really nice talking to you," I started, feeling worse and worse with every word, "But I have to go and get ready for Hogsmeade. Maybe another time?"

To my surprise, he smiled at me. "Another time," he agreed, leaving me with that smile and a wave.

Why did he have to be so nice?

I couldn't deal with this.

I'm 17. I should be able to deal with this, but I just can't. Time to go to the advice giver.

"ELLYN!"

No answer.

"ELLYN HATCHER!"

No answer.

"ELLYN DESTINY HATCHER!"

Ellyn came bounding down the steps into the common room, looking at me like I was crazy. "What did I tell you about my middle name?" she hissed at me, in a whisper, looking around at everyone who had heard me.

"I need help," I said quickly, before Ellyn could complain anymore.

Ellyn stopped for a second and finally took my arm and set me down on the couch. "Okay, go." She sat back and got comfortable.

So I told her the whole story.

"And I don't know what to do. I mean, I liked him back in 5th year but I never thought he would ever like me back and now I'm just freaking out about the whole thing and rambling..."

Ellyn nodded and checked the time. "That only took twenty minutes," she joked. Or at least, I hoped she joked. "All right, Hogsmeade trip is in an hour. This might take an hour."

"Ellyn, just tell me what to do. It doesn't have to take an hour," I replied.

She shrugged. "Go out with him."

I almost fell off the couch. Which wouldn't be my first time. "W-what? Are you crazy?!" I almost yelled, but remembered in time that there were other people in the room.

"He likes you Lily. And honestly, you need to get a boyfriend. And since you and James decided to be friends and all, I can't possibly get you two together. So go for Robert."

I really wanted to throw a tantrum in the middle of the common room. "I can't go out with Robert Sharpe," I said under my breath.

"He likes you," Ellyn sing-songed, "If he asks, you have to go out with him."

"DESTINY!" A shout was heard from outside the common room.

Ellyn and I both shared scared looks. "Oh, god, no," Ellyn groaned, looking over at the portrait anxiously.

Sirius climbed through the portrait hole, Peter following him, laughing about something. And I could only guess what.

"John and Little Albert had some interesting news for me," Sirius announced, flopping down in the chair across from us. "_Destiny_. Nice."

Ellyn frowned. "My parents like weird names. Which explains my weird 'y' in the middle of my first name. Oh, and if you tell anyone my middle name is Destiny, let's just say you won't ever be able to have children," Ellyn finished, getting up and leaving with a curtsy.

Ooo...that was awesome.

Sirius flinched. Peter flinched. I grinned.

Ellyn stopped before going up the stairs, and mouthed, "Go out with him".

Oh. Robert. I had almost forgot about him for a moment. I inwardly sighed. I didn't want to go out with him.

Did I?


	5. The Shopping

This chapter is pathetically short (it's not even 2,000 words...) but I wanted to end it where it does. Don't worry though. The next chapter is a bit longer than normal.

Oh, I have a two links to banners for this story in my profile. You'll find them somewhat at the top of my page. The first one is simple, but the second one has two people you haven't even met yet (if anyone wants to guess, go ahead...)...and Robert, if you want to see what he looks like.

* * *

"So, let's see here." Ellyn spun around in the middle of Hogsmeade, glancing at every shop on her way around. "We need to go to essential places like always, but we also have to find a shop to pick up a casual dress. Hmm..."

Kady rummaged in her pockets for something, and I just stared at the two of them. "Here we go." She brought out a list of something. "I took the liberty of planning out our strategy today."

"A strategy?" Ellyn and I asked at the same time.

"Yes, a strategy. First, we make our way over to Dervish and Banges, then we visit Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop just because I need some more quills. Finally, we'll visit Gladrag's Wizardwear to see if they've gotten our memo on the dinner party and have the type of dress we want. Finally we'll end with Honeydukes and the Three Broomsticks."

Ellyn and I continued to stare at Kady. "You have too much free time," Ellyn finally exclaimed.

"Onto Dervish and Banges!"

We decided to just follow her. What harm could it do?

Evidently, it did cause much harm.

After Dervish and Banges and Scrivenshaft's, Ellyn and I were ready to sit down in the middle of the road and just lay there. It took Kady two hours for just those two stores. We ended up not even getting anything. It was all Kady.

"All right," Kady announced in the middle of the road, as Ellyn and I actually sat there, "Scrivenshaft's is done." And she crossed out the word. "Now for Gladrag's."

The store was packed when we entered. Everyone was probably bugging the owner for dresses.

We pushed our way to the front and found the owner fretting over the students asking her questions.

"Ma'am?" I asked, pushing away two 4th years.

She had her back turned to me. "No, I'm waiting for-" She turned around and noticed me. "Oh, you're the Head Girl, right?" I nodded in response. "Come with me." I followed her and had Ellyn and Kady follow me.

She took me into the back room, where boxes and boxes were stacked up to the ceiling. "I got these in yesterday. They're all dresses that fit your qualifications. Since your Head Girl, I thought you'd be the first to try them. And-" she looked to Ellyn and Kady, "your friends?" she asked, pointing to them.

"Yes," I answered.

"Good, I thought they might be one of the rabid costumers that snuck in," she said with a sigh of relief, leaving back into the main room.

"We get to choose our dresses first!" Kady shouted, practically diving at one of the boxes. She quickly ripped it open, taking out a black dress wrapped in plastic. "Not this one," she said, putting it to the left of her.

Ellyn walked over to another stack of boxes and started taking out the dresses, putting them on all on hangers and hanging them up on the movable racks. I followed her lead, looking at each of the dresses that came out. Blue one, no. White one, no. At least the owner listened to my qualifications. All dresses were short and casual. Nothing too fancy.

"Look at this dress!" Kady shouted suddenly, making me jump. "It's perfect!" She spun around, holding a pink dress with a dark pink bow around its middle.

"That's a lot of pink," Ellyn pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but look at it!" I took a closer look. It was a short dress that ruffled out at the bottom with the bow tied around the dress for decoration. It was simple, yet I could admit, it was cute.

"I like it," I admitted, and Kady smiled. She held onto her dress while putting more away.

Green dress, no. Black dress filled with ribbons, bows, and sequins. Definitely not. Hmm...

"What about this dress?"

I turned around to see Ellyn holding a light blue dress with a flower on the right side. It folded over with ruffles and came with a matching scarf. Cute. "Cute," I repeated out loud with a smile.

Kady and Ellyn came over to help me with my dress. Ellyn held up a light green dress that looked a lot like a cocktail dress. I grimaced and shook my head. Kady had a tendency of picking out blue dresses for me. No idea why. She explained that it looked good against my skin color or something like that. I ended up not picking any of her's. It was one that I picked up.

It was a pale yellow, very crisp and clean. It fell to below my knees, and had straps that held up the dress at the top. There was also a row of jewels at the top that gave it a shape I knew would look good on me.

"That's an amazing dress," Kady commented and I nodded my head.

Ellyn took the dress from me, examining it. "It suits you, Lily," she said, giving it back to me.

Kady rummaged for her list again. "Now we're off to Honeydukes and we'll end at the Three Broomsticks." She basically pushed me and Ellyn out of the door into the room full of girls wanting their dresses. We quickly paid for them, and rushed out of there.

We walked up to Honeydukes to find a huge crowd in there, talking about that imaginary ball that I know nothing of. Sighing, I turned to Kady and Ellyn. "We're not going in there," I said to them.

We looked through the window to see the chaos and they immediately agreed with me. "Let's try the Three Broomsticks," Kady said.

On our walk down, we saw many girls conversing with each other about dates and dresses and hair.

"I've created a monster," I groaned, hiding my dress from them so they wouldn't want to see it.

"You've created only a dinner party," Ellyn explained, "It's not a monster. They're making it into a monster."

I looked away from the group of girls to notice a group of guys talking over by the post office, looking over at the girls with apprehension.

"The guys must hate me," I muttered.

"Oh no, that wasn't your fault about the date thing," Kady exclaimed, "It just comes with any social event."

Social events are now a seriously bad idea. I hope Hogwarts never has to have another one. I stopped in front of the window at the Three Broomsticks and peered inside before walking in. There wasn't as many people in there, probably because they were all at Gladrags Wizardwear.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw James sitting over by the far window, talking to someone with dark blonde hair. Patricia.

It didn't bother me though. It didn't. I calmly took a seat on the other side of the room, facing _them_.

Patricia is a nice girl. She really is. The only reason I really don't know her that well is because she's a year younger than me.

"Lily, you're doing it again. LILY!" I snapped back to reality, focusing on Ellyn and Kady.

"What?" I asked hastily.

"You know, the thing where you space out and start thinking and ignore us," Ellyn explained, staring at me strangely.

"Right," I said slowly, as our drinks appeared before us. I stirred mine, still staring over at James and Patricia.

He was looking serious. Probably asking her to the dinner party. James could do better than Patricia. She didn't deserve him. He deserved someone that-

"LILY!" I was yelled at again. I glanced over at my friends again and then back at that table. I heard Ellyn sigh and get up to look behind her.

"You're looking at James?" she asked, snapping her fingers in front of me.

"Huh?" It took awhile for me to remember what she said. "Oh, I'm just thinking," I lied. James was laughing at something. What was he laughing at?

Ellyn frowned. "You're definitely looking at James. Who's he with?" Kady and her turned around in their seats and tried to see the girl who was sitting with him.

"Patricia," I answered for them, scrunching my face.

"The 6th year?" Kady elaborated and I nodded.

"You're kidding me-"

"No, it is her," I automatically answered.

"No, not that!" Ellyn waved me off and then leaned forward and said in a hurried whisper, "You like James?"  
I felt my eyebrows go up and my heart skipped a beat. "What? No!"

"You're lying!" Ellyn retorted. Kady was looking at me with surprise, but not saying anything.

I felt like I was going to hyperventilate. "No, no. Remember? I don't like him. I told you-"

"You lied!" Ellyn said in shock. "You lied about that! You_ liked_ that snogfest in the common room!"

Oh no.

"Ellyn!" I said in a loud whisper. "I don't like James!"

But Ellyn was on a roll. "And that talk about the looks. That was James!"

I almost screamed. "No! I-I like Robert!"

There was a pause. Ellyn looked at me, her head tilted. Kady was silent. "Really?" she asked, softly.

"Yes," I hissed.

I liked Robert. Not James. Stick with that.

"I'll set you up then," Ellyn finished, sitting back with a small smile.

I just dug myself in a huge hole.

I sighed inwardly so Ellyn and Kady wouldn't hear. This was turning out to be the worst Hogsmeade trip ever. Stupid dinner party and stupid guys and friends trying to set me up.

"I forgot my brown spotted quill!" Kady suddenly shouted out of nowhere. I almost fell out of my chair.

"What?" Ellyn questioned, sipping her drink, which was almost empty.

"My quill. I forgot to get a brown spotted quill! I have to go get one!" Kady was almost frantic now.

"We only have twenty more minutes, Kady. We don't have enough time-"

"Someone go with me!" Kady interrupted me, sounding desperate.

Ellyn and I exchanged looks. "I'll go," Ellyn finally said. "I'll get something while I'm there." They quickly rushed out of the store to get to Scrivenshaft's.

And now I was left alone.

Great.

I sipped my drink, stirring it occasionally, looking up at the people who were here. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing and didn't even glance my way. I wonder if Ellyn will actually try to get me with Robert. It wouldn't be so bad, probably.

"Hey." I looked up to see James slid in the seat across from me.

"Hey." I glanced around the store before asking, "where's Patricia?"

James shrugged. "She went off to hang out with her friends before we had to leave. Thought I'd keep you company. Sitting over here...by yourself." He trailed off at the end.

I continued to stir my drink. "Ellyn and Kady had to pick up some quills," I explained so I wouldn't seem like a total loser.

"Have you gone to get a dress yet?" James asked.

"Before the crowd, actually," I said, grabbing the bag the dress was in and moving it.

James moved forward a little to see what I was holding. "Is that it?"

I held it out of reach and replied, "Maybe. But you don't get to see it."

James almost crawled over the table to get to it. He quickly got up and moved to my side of the table as I continued to hold the dress out of reach. He climbed on the chair, reaching out for it as I laughed. "Oh, no, you have to reach for it."

I wasn't expecting his next move.


	6. The Decorating

I felt his fingers move down my sides, resting there. I stopped for a second, but it was only a second. Then he started tickling me.

Tickling. I can't stand tickling. I'm not ticklish. I'm just...sensitive.

I immediately doubled over, holding onto my dress for dear life, but also trying to pry James's fingers away. "Stop," I laughed, as I felt a tug on my dress. I still didn't let it go. "James...stop..." I was able to get out between laughing. I was backed up against the wall and there was no place to run to. I contemplated sitting my dress but I didn't want to ruin it. He was practically sitting on me, reaching across me with one hand to get to that dress, tickling me with the other. His hand was inching its away underneath my coat, trying to get to my skin to make me give up. Instead, it was making me break out into goosebumps.

It was then I noticed.

His face was only two inches from mine.

I had a fleeting memory from that one night. His kisses were soft and comforting. And I wanted that again. What I would give for that again. Why did I want him again?

He stopped tickling me; his hand rested under my shirt, his fingers brushing my skin, ever so lightly. His eyes bore into mine, staring at me with that look from before in the corridor. The dark one.

He was breathing heavily like me. As he began to lean in, I closed my eyes in anticipation.

"Oh my god!"

We both jumped back quickly, and whipped around to the source of the voice. Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Of course.

"Um..." I started to say.

"This time I didn't even have to find out from John and Albert!" Sirius said excitedly, looking at Remus for support. Remus just stared back.

"Oh my god!"

It was Ellyn. Kady came in behind her, and they stood next to James's friends.

It was then I noticed the compromising situation we were still in. James was practically on top of me, his hand underneath my shirt.

Everyone continued to stare at us in shock as James slowly got up, running a hand through his hair. "Umm...nice talking to you Lily," he said.

I weakly smiled back. In reality, I felt like dying...again.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter turned to look at me, and then back at James, who was walking out of the door.

"Details later!" Sirius hastily said, running out of the door after James. Remus and Peter exchanged glances and then followed them out of the door.

Ellyn and Kady stood there, staring at me, their eyes still wide. I stared back, not sure of what to say.

What could you say after a situation like that?

"Um..." Yes, 'um' always is a great conversation starter.

Ellyn walked over, grabbing me by the arm, and dragged me out of the pub. "You told me you didn't like James!" she said in a low voice.

"I don't-"

Kady butted in. "Don't even try to say you don't because we saw you two."

Caught red handed. "I-I'm just stupid, okay? I have bad judgment."

Ellyn was walking quickly in front of me, probably fuming in the inside. She turned to me and said, loudly, "Just admit it, okay?"

Admit what? "What?"

She sighed, stopping in front of me. "You like James, Lily. I can tell." She had me trapped, and she knew I couldn't get out of it.

"I don't like James," I tried again, and added, softly,"I _can't_ like James."

Ellyn crossed her arms. "Don't and can't are two different things."

There it was.

She knew.

I knew.

Deep down, I've always known.

I liked James.

This was _crazy_.

I groaned, pushing past Ellyn. "Forget it," I mumbled. What I would give right now to get away from everything. From James, from Ellyn, from _everything_.

"What about Robert?" Kady shouted after me.

I turned around to see them both standing there, their arms crossed, waiting for answers. What could I say? What could I possibly say that would be convincing enough? "I like Robert," I said, my voice carrying weakly.

"Do you really like him or are you just saying that so we will stop asking about James?"

Good question. I frowned, scuffing my shoes on the ground. "Both?" I tried. Could I just tell them everything? Did I really want to divulge all my secrets? "I _can't_ like James," I finally decided, telling myself that I wouldn't cry through my speech. "I can't like him because he liked me. And if I start to like him back, then I'd be a hypocrite and the whole school will know. We're friends. We're just friends and that's it. I want to leave it at that. I really do. I want to forget him. I want to like Robert, so I do. I like Robert." I didn't cry. I didn't.

Ellyn and Kady just stared at me, and left us in an uncomfortable silence. I groaned, turning back around to get to the castle as fast as I could.

"Lily!" Ellyn appeared on one side of me and Kady on the other, slightly out of breath. "Do you still want me to set you up with Robert?" Ellyn asked with a comforting smile.

I smiled back. "Sure. Why not?"

* * *

James avoided me for the rest of the day. He sat with us at dinner but conveniently didn't say a word to me the entire time. Instead, he played with the food on his plate, occasionally taking a bite. He rarely talked to the other guys. He looked depressed to anyone who didn't know the situation. But I knew it was confusion.

My gaze lingered on him for most of the meal and I wondered if I should say something to him. I couldn't explain the situation so what could I say? Nothing. I ended up not saying anything through dinner just like him.

Did he move on? The question popped up in my mind randomly. I pondered it for a second. Ever since we had become friends, he didn't try asking me out anymore. Probably to make sure he didn't lose me as a friend. So did he move on? Did he like someone else? Probably Patricia. I pushed the useless question to the back of my mind and stood up to go to the library for some deep thinking and studying.

On the way into the library, I continued to ponder about what had happened in Hogsmeade. I really wished I wouldn't think about that.

"Oof!"

Jolted back into the real world, I noticed I had crashed into someone. "Oh! Sorry," I said quickly, shaking my head.

"It's okay." Robert. He stood there, smiling at me, with that half smile. He was evidently coming from the library when I had stupidly crashed into him. Today was definitely not a good day. "Actually, I was looking for you," he said.

Ellyn had talked to him. "Oh, really?" I feigned confusion. "Why?"

"I was just wondering if you'd like to help me with my Charms essay."

A homework date. Not a great start, but a start I guess. I needed Ellyn here to translate for me. I smiled. "Sure," I replied.

Robert looked uneasy. I stared at him, waiting for his next move.

And he didn't say anything. In a rash decision, I said, "Yeah, so, I guess I'll be leaving now." I started to walk off but felt a hand holding me back. I turned around to see Robert looking at me nervously, his hand on my sleeve.

"Um, Lily?" He was choking on his words. It was quite cute, actually.

"Yes?" I urged him.

"Do you want to-um-possibly go to the dinner party...with me?" He looked like he was going to faint.

I decided to just put him out of his misery. "Sure," I replied in a single word, with a smile and a peck on the cheek.

I think I could really like Robert.

* * *

The two weeks passed quickly and with every passing day, Hogwarts became more and more filled with anticipation about the dinner party. In the corridors, guys were asking girls left and right, and sometimes things turned out for the better, and sometimes they didn't. I passed a lot of the ways that ended up bad on the way to my classes.

It was the day before the dinner party and Robert and I actually had enjoyed the couple homework dates we planned together. He was a nice guy, very considerate and a good listener. Funny at times and serious when the time called for it.

Was I falling for him? I asked myself that question each night before I fell asleep, and every night it kept me awake to inhuman hours.

It was lunch time as I thought this over, wondering what else I could do. Ellyn was sitting next to me, frowning, as I could see out of the corner of my eye. "Why are you frowning at me?" I asked without even looking at her.

"You're so calm today," she noted, "And tomorrow is your huge dinner party."

I nodded. "Yes, it is," I answered, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"Don't you have stuff to do before the party?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Sure, but I'm just waiting."

"For what?"  
"Lily!" I looked up to see James leaning across the table to talk to me. "We need to get started setting up for the dinner party tomorrow."

"Okay," I replied, and James nodded, walking off. I turned to Ellyn afterward and said, "that", pointing to where James had previously been.

"You're scaring me," Ellyn said, looking at me like I was a mutant.

James and I never talked about what happened in Hogsmeade afterward. We just went back to treating each other the same after a couple days. It was like it had never happened.

I grinned at her, and got up. "Well, I have to go talk to James. See you later." It was fun psyching Ellyn out.

I briskly walked out of the Great Hall, looking for James and which way he went.

"Hey." The voice came from behind me.

Assuming it was James, I started to talk. "Listen, J-" Instead of meeting a pair of hazel eyes, I was meant with the light blue ones of my boyfriend. Or "boyfriend". We weren't exactly official yet. "Oh, Robert. I was just looking for-"

"Yeah, yeah," he interrupted, "Looking for me. I know."

I simply didn't have the heart to tell him I was actually looking for another guy. "Yeah," I agreed. "Listen, I have some Head's duties that I actually have to get to right now."

"Hmm..." Robert murmured for a second. Wait, what was that for? "Okay, I'll meet up with you later," he said, and I forgot about his previous comment. After a light peck on the lips, we departed.

I continued my search for James, pushing the encounter with Robert out of my mind. Then I saw him walking to the common room, strides in front of me. "James!" I called out. He stopped and then turned around, spotting me. I quickly made my way over. "So, what do we have to do with the dinner party?"

James went through a mental checklist. "We've got the menu planned out, the dress code is finalized, and the whole party was approved by the staff. The only thing we have left is to decorate." He scrunched up his face on the last word, to show his extreme dislike.

"When do we get to decorate?" I asked, pulling out my clipboard from my bookbag. I flipped through my pages and James watched with curiosity. "Here, from our first meeting with Dumbledore, he said we could decorate the night before, and then breakfast and lunch will be served in separate rooms the day after .

"You wrote that down?" James asked me, eyebrow raised.

"Yes," I slowly answered. What was so weird about that?

We had finally got to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "You're obsessive-compulsive," James announced, after he said the password into the common room.

I climbed in. "Right," I said, sarcastically.

James laughed. "Tonight at eight we'll start-" he stopped for a dramatic pause, "decorating."

I grinned. "Okay."

It was like nothing changed.

* * *

"Lily!"

I ignore the shouts from Ellyn and continued skipping down the steps.

"Lily Evans!"  
Again, I continued my way down the steps. It was already 7:50 and I couldn't waste any more time.

"Lily Marie Evans!"

I kept going, but decided to shout, "That doesn't work! I don't have an embarrassing middle name, Ellyn Destiny Hatcher!"

It wasn't long before Ellyn cut me off on the stairs. "Stop. Saying. My. Middle. Name." She really did look like she was about to kill me. But I knew she wouldn't. So instead I grinned.

"You rang?" I asked, adjusting my bag with some of the decorations in it.

Ellyn rolled her eyes. "I didn't ring. I yelled. Anyway, you never answered me." There might have been a reason I didn't answer her, but I didn't tell her that. "Where are you going?"

"I am going to set up for our dinner party tomorrow," I replied with a nod. I gently pushed Ellyn out of my way and continued on my path.

"Whatever." Ellyn finally gave up, plopping down on the couch in defeat.

With a wave, I was gone from the common room and on my way to the Great Hall.

"Professor, why can't we use magic to blow up these balloons?" I heard James's voice a couple feet from the door. I stopped before the door, flattening myself against the wall, and peered inside.

James was talking to Professor McGonagall while waving around a bright blue deflated balloon. Around his feet, balloons were scattered everywhere and none were blown up yet.

"Because, simply, we haven't created a spell to blow up balloons," McGonagall explained, making her way to the door.

James's face was priceless. He looked totally confused. "Why not?" he muttered, most likely to himself.

All I could see was McGonagall's back. "You have till ten tonight to make this room look magnificent, Mister Potter. I do expect you and the Head Girl to blow up those balloons by hand. Don't try to make up a spell." She started to back up, but then added as an afterthought, "And behave, will you?"

I finally walked inside while McGonagall walked out. She gave me a curt nod on the way out and a stern look.

"Want to know something funny?" James asked as soon as he saw me.

"Sure," I answered, picking up a green balloon.

He looked at the balloon in his hand and then back at me. "I've never blown up balloons."

I stared at him with my mouth open for a few seconds. "How did you get through life?" I asked him.

"By...breathing?" he answered me and I gave him an exasperated look.

"Nice," I commented, and remembered something. "Accio Balloon Pump." James had his "you're crazy" face on again. I looked back with a "I'm not" face. Just then, a small object came zooming into the room and I held it out for James to see, placing it in his hand. "Have fun."

James held it out at arm's length like it was poisonous. "What _is_ it?" he asked in disgust.

"You can blow up balloons with it," I explained.

James's face lightened up. "Really?" He sounded really excited.

After a bit of fumbling, he had a medium-sized blue balloon. "Awesome!" James said, starting on the next one.

I have him a weird look, and started on the streamers and other decorations. It was quiet, except for the casual bantering back and forth, for almost a whole hour.

_BOOM!_

The sound from behind me caused me to whip around on the chair I was standing on and lose my balance for a second.

James was just standing there, holding a balloon on fire. ...On fire?!  
"James!" I shouted. He looked up at me, and then dropped the balloon on the ground, stamping it on quickly. Finally, the fire went out and he again picked up the balloon that was now smoking.

"McGonagall was right," he announced, looking up at me with an innocent look. "Don't try any spells on balloons."

I let out a small laugh. "I gave you the balloon pump."  
James shrugged, tossing the balloon a cup of water. "It was too slow."

I sighed, turning back around with a smile and continued working on the streamers. A couple minutes later, I finished with them, getting down from the chair. I saw James out of the corner of my eyes. "Hey!" I yelled at him, running over to where he was going through my bag. "Don't do that."

He was holding onto the bags of confetti I had brought to sprinkle on the floor. I raised an eyebrow at him. He feigned the innocence look again.

"Take that!" James quickly turned, covering me in black and silver confetti.

I ran behind him, sprinkling it in his hair. "Oh, no." I put a hand up to my mouth in fake shock. "There's confetti in your hair! Whatever will you do?"

He emptied the rest of the bag onto me. "There. Now we match."

We looked like we had gotten in a fight with a clown...or something weird like that.

"We got more on us than on the floor," I noted, laughing slightly.

James shrugged. "Oh well. Now onto the balloon fight!" He grabbed the nearest balloon and tried to throw it at me. Instead, it floated uselessly to the ground. "...Well, that didn't work."

I grinned, stepping back to admire our work. Balloons, streamers, confetti, what else were we missing?

"Hmm..." James was looking up into the enchanted sky. "We need something more festive." With a wave of his wand, candles floated above our heads, covering us in a dim light. "That's better."

I nodded. "Looks like our work is done here."

James nodded too. "Good work, partner," he said, holding out his hand for me to shake. I took it and we finished the deal with a friendly handshake.

I checked the time to see it was two minutes to ten.

"Nice work, Mr. Potter. Ms. Evans." We both turned around to see Professor McGonagall admiring our handiwork. Then she looked at us. "I suggest you took take showers before going to retire." She plucked a piece of confetti off my shoulder, shortly examining it, and then let it fall to the floor.

As soon as she left, James and I started laughing.

It was quiet walk back to the common room, aside from the occasionally snicker or chuckle. Being covered in confetti really was a hilarious topic.

"It's 10:30," I said, "I bet everyone's already gone to bed to get their beauty rest for tomorrow night."

James chuckled. "Probably."

Our suspicious were deemed correct as we walked into a dark common room, looking as if it was devoid of people.

But I knew better.

I could tell there was two figures on the couch. Of course. James glanced at me and I glanced back and we communicated our thoughts through those glances.

Should we interrupt the couple? Or would it just be rude? It definitely would be embarrassing for them. It wasn't like anyone wouldn't be able to tell they were down here. They weren't even trying to be quiet. In circumspect, they really should have gotten a room if they were planning on doing anything.

"Lumos," I whispered, and light flooded the couple.

I regretted doing so and soon as I did it.

"Hi, Lily!"

I stopped myself from laughing to get rid my shock. And the way she just brushed it off.

"Hi, Ellyn," I replied in the same tone, and then added, "Hi, Stephen." I watched as Ellyn tried to make herself look presentable while Stephen slowly moved away. He was more embarrassed than she was.

I started to giggle. "Ellyn, Ellyn, Ellyn," I muttered, walking away laughing.

James remained quiet, shaking his head while walking off to his dormitory.

"See you at the party!" I heard Ellyn whisper behind me, and then there was the sound of kissing and the scuffle of feet behind me.

"How was your rendezvous?" Ellyn asked, once again cutting me off on the stairs.

I chuckled. "I should be the one asking you that," I said. She looked at me with a grin, and we both started laughing. "You know, when I asked you what you would do if someone found you and a guy on a couch together, you weren't supposed to actually do it."

Ellyn just smiled. "Sorry."

"And the whole thing with the looks. God, Ellyn, you're a liar." All the way up the staircases, we bantered back and forth about the situation, laughing in between.

And we ended up laughing ourselves to sleep.

* * *

A couple things to mention: 

Here's a sneak peek of ch. 9 (I think). Thought you'd enjoy a random moment.

"She _reads_," I announced as if it was the weirdest thing in the world. As if I said "she pretends she's an alien", or something like that.  
Ellyn raised an eyebrow. "Wow...reading," she said sarcastically.  
I frowned at her. "She reads the same books as me. She's letting me borrow a book from her."

And, I have a question for you all. Do you like the 1st person POV the story is currently in? Because right now, the sequel will not be in 1st person, but 3rd and I don't know if I should do that...

And lastly, reviews do make me update faster. It's not a myth. Sometimes I have a chapter done (which I do) and I tell myself I won't post until I get this many reviews or just maybe a review I really like. So...review...please?


	7. The Dinner Party

There is a link in my profile to pictures of the dresses that the girls are wearing if you want to see.

You have no idea how excited I am for this story right now. Since I'm writing ahead of where you guys are, I know all the inside stuff. Like who the first two girls are in the second banner on my profile...hmmm...

* * *

"Get up!" I was pushed out of my bed this time.

"Urgh, Kady, it's only twelve," I argued into my pillow that I took with me.

I felt a pillow repeatedly being whacked onto my head. "The party is tonight!"

With a sigh, I finally stood up, kicking my covers to the side and went to get ready.

"You have ten minutes!" Kady shouted at my retreating back.

"All right."

We were walking back from our short lunch, headed back toward the dormitories. Ellyn and I were exchanging worried glances as Kady once again rummaged around for something. Another list, no doubt.

"Okay." Kady brushed her hair out of her face, and smoothed out a piece of paper with definitely a list on it. "It's now one and we're an hour behind schedule." Ellyn and I grinned at each other. "I saw that!" Kady remarked, though her eyes didn't move from the paper.

"Why do you need to schedule everything?" Ellyn asked, brushing her hair into a makeshift ponytail.

"Because. We need one," Kady answered. "We'll need to cut down our showers by five minutes. And make-up and hair by seven." Her finger trailed down the schedule, making sure she would have time for everything. Ellyn and I continued our glances at each other. "All right. We need to get started in five minutes. Let's pick up our pace to a brisk walk."

"Brisk walk?" I questioned, as we sped up our walking at least double.

"Brisk walk," Kady repeated, looking at her list walking we walked. Multi-tasking.

We entered the common room in a record of three minutes.

"Hey, El!" I turned to see Sirius and James sitting on the couch, watching us practically run up to the dormitories.

Ellyn started to walk faster. "I can't talk right now," she said quickly, "I'm working on my brisk walk."

Sirius grinned. "We'll talk _later _then."

I don't know why, but Sirius always tends to emphasize certain words to make all of his sentences suggestive. He's just strange like that, I guess.

Ellyn nodded, and I could have sworn there was a glint in her eye. "Okay, I'll say hi to you at the dinner party."

Sirius's grin faded immediately. "That's not what I meant!" he shouted as we rushed upstairs.

"He needs to learn," Ellyn announced as we shut our door behind us, "that he isn't as suave and irresistible as he thinks he is."

Kady shrugged, setting down her bag on her bed. "Well, he is pretty handso-"

Ellyn cut her off with her hand. "No, none of that. Conversation is over."

I brought out my dress, watching the two bicker...over Sirius Black. What Sirius would give to know they were talking about him.

"You have to admit he's handsome," Kady was saying over and over.

Ellyn brought out her dress, throwing it down on her bed angrily. "No, cause that's just want he wants us to think." She grabbed some clothes and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"She thinks he's handsome," Kady whispered to me once the door was closed.

"NO, I DON'T!" Ellyn's voice carried through the door. "Any man is twice the man he'll ever be!" And with that, the shower was turned on, and the conversation officially ended.

"Who is she talking about?" Laura walked in the room, carrying a box of who-knows-what. She set the box down on her bed and started talking out what looked like clown make-up.

Kady sat on her bed on the opposite side, looking through what she brought. "Sirius Black."

Wrong answer.

Laura looked up briefly and I could have sworn there were already tears in her eyes. "Oh, why?" Her voice was quiet and full of raw emotion.

Kady continued nonchalantly, "We were talking about how handsome he is."

"You and Ellyn?" Laura was about to break down.

Kady shrugged, picking up a weird shade of purple eyeshadow. "Yeah, it was nothing really. Just because Sirius likes to tease her all the time-"

"Sirius teases her?" Laura was staring at the door to the bathroom, lost in her own world. "But he used to do that to me..." Her voice was already beginning to crack.

"But she says she doesn't like him which has to be a total lie. She's covering up for something-"

Laura suddenly stood up, knocking over some contents of her box. "I-I have to go." She fled out of the door and I knew I heard some sobbing.

I chuckled. "Good job getting rid of her Kady."

Kady looked up, looking lost and confused. "What did I say?"

I decided just to not tell her.

"Are you going with Stephen?" I asked Ellyn as Kady took the shower.

Ellyn took her hair out of her towel and ran her hand through it. "Yes," she said, through her mass of hair, "I don't just make out with random guys, Lily." I gave her a skeptical look. "That was once," she revealed, "now, where's my wand?"

I pointed to her dresser where her wand lay. She muttered a thanks before using it to fast dry her hair.

I repositioned myself on the bed, sitting indian style. "Are you letting Kady do your hair?"

Kady loves hair. Styling it, I mean. Every time we've had a formal event, she's right there with hair stuff, waiting to get to our hair. Even though we act like it's torture, she's actually really good at it.

"Probably." Ellyn shrugged it off, trying to find something. "Where's my necklace?"

I pointed to her bed, where all her jewelry was lying. Once again, Ellyn muttered thanks before putting all of it together and setting it somewhere else. This is why she loses things.

"How long were you with Stephen?" I finally asked. She never actually explained the Stephen situation James and I had walked in on yesterday.

Ellyn sat down on her bed, facing me. "Since...yesterday?" she said, like it was an obvious thing.

"So you just-"

Ellyn laughed. "I talked to him before just making out with him. And he asked me to the dinner party. Common sense there." I listened for the shower to turn off. Kady was still in the bathroom. "So, how was your night?" I looked at Ellyn to see her smirking at me.

I gave her a weird look. "We decorated the Great Hall," I explained, nodding.

"You were covered with confetti." She wanted a huge scandal.

"We had a confetti fight," I said as if it wasn't a big deal.

Ellyn chuckled. "_Confetti fight_, riight."

She can give Sirius a running for taking words and making them suggestive. "I'm with Robert, Ellyn. James and I just decorated. I really like Robert. I wouldn't dare think of cheating on him."

Kady finally opened the bathroom door and came out. I grabbed my stuff and took the room before I could be interrogated any further.

* * *

"You guys ready?" Kady asked ten minutes before the dinner party. We were standing at the top of the staircase, waiting to go down in the common room where people would see us.

I looked at Kady, who had her hair down and curled out at the ends, which wasn't actually unusual. She usually had her hair down.

Ellyn growled. "It's not such a big deal," she exclaimed, pushing Kady to the side and walking down the staircase first. Kady had done Ellyn's hair, and it was done in a curly up do that looked cute but received a second glance on Ellyn. She usually never curled her hair and kept it straight or wavy.

I followed her, my red hair cascading down my back in soft curls. Kady quickly followed behind me, and I watched my step as I walked down the steps.

The first person I saw was Stephen, standing by the portrait, looking at Ellyn with a smile on his face. Then I saw Remus standing by the couch, talking to Sirius. Remus caught us coming down the staircase and pointing over to us. Sirius followed Remus's gaze and his eyes widened. James was standing by the guys' staircases and caught my gaze.

It was that look again.

He looked at me with that look, another serious look on his face. If I could only tell what it meant.

I stopped at the end of the staircase and lightly brushed my hair out of my eyes, still keeping that gaze with James. He was walking over. He stopped in front of me and gave me a smile that caused my heart to skip a beat. "You look...amazing," he said.

"You clean up pretty good too," I replied, duplicating his smile. And he did. He was wearing dark blue dress robes and dark dress shoes underneath.

He laughed, looking over to the side. I looked over to where he was to see Sirius talking to Ellyn and Kady. Well, probably just Ellyn. We both walked over to see what was going on.

"-look nice," is what I caught of Sirius saying.

"Are you trying to flatter me, Mister Black?" Ellyn asked, crossing her arms. I had to admit, she didn't look as intimidating with the make-up, nice hair style, and the dress.

"Maybe," Sirius answered, "Is it working?"

Ellyn pondered the question for a second. "Not really," she finally replied, leaving him behind and walking over to Stephen.

"Where's Patricia meeting you at?" I asked James as Kady found her date, one of Stephen's friends.

"Outside the Great Hall," James answered.

"That's where I'm meeting Robert," I said.

James smiled. "I'll walk you there then." He helped me out of the portrait hole and we continued on our way to the Great Hall.

"I hope everyone likes our decorations," I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, especially since I still think I have confetti in my hair," James joked.

There was another bout of silence.

"I like your shoes," James said, randomly.

I glanced down at the jeweled shoes that matched the jewels on my dress. "Oh, thanks."

And we lapsed into silence again for a couple minutes, finally reaching the corridor where Patricia and Robert were supposed to be.

"Lily." I turned around and met Robert's eyes.

He looked amazing; hair was combed, eyes sparkled, and the dark green robes made his eyes look even bluer.

"You look..." he held out his hand and I took it, spinning quickly, "ravishing."

I giggled. "Why, thank you."

I turned back again to see James looked uncomfortable behind us. "Well," he started to say as soon as Robert was pulling me in for a kiss, "I'm going to – um, there's Patricia." And he was gone.

Robert softly kissed me quick, pulling away to look into my eyes. "I'm sure your dinner party will be amazing," he said; his fingers interlacing with mine. I smiled as he led me into the Great Hall.

There was already a dull chatter going on. Dinner hadn't started yet, yet everyone was looking impatient. Some were staring up at the decorations and some were looking as if they would break into a dance any minute even though there was no music.

Sirius was standing underneath my streamer decoration next to his girl of the hour, Tina. He looked pretty suspicious standing there like he wasn't going to do anything.

I excused myself from Robert and quickly strode over to him. "You're not planning anything, are you?" I asked before I even reached him.

Tina looked at me through jealous eyes. Like she had anything to be jealous about. Sirius shrugged. "Wouldn't dream of it," he said, which didn't match with his motions.

"Sirius Black..." I tried to sound menacing.

It must have worked because Sirius backed up a little bit. "All right. Sheesh."

I sighed, leaving Sirius with his date. Robert was talking to one of his Ravenclaw friends by the time I got there, so I scoped the room for Kady and Ellyn. I saw Kady first, talking, or should I say, _flirting_ with her date, Blake something. I spotted Ellyn over on the other side of the room, listening to something Stephen was saying. Ellyn saw me first, saying something to Stephen and rushing over to me. Kady quickly followed suit.

"Blake won't catch onto any of my advances," Kady huffed, crossing her arms and looking at us for advice.

"Let him come to you, Kady. You're trying too hard," Ellyn said.

Kady frowned at her and then turned to me. "So how's your time with Robert so far?"

I glanced over at him chatting animately with his friend. "It's been good." And I turned to Ellyn. "Snogged Stephen yet?"

Ellyn gave me an exasperated look. "No," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Appetizers are going around," Kady pointed out. I noticed a bunch of house elves bring out plates filled with little food sandwiches. It had taken some convincing to get the house elves from Dumbledore. Usually, they didn't want to be seen.

"What are you girls talking about?" Robert appeared behind me, find my hand and enclosing it over his.

"The food," I answered casually.

Robert laughed, brushing my hair out of my face. His touch lingered on my skin. "You've done a wonderful job Lily," Robert said, with so much sincerity in his words that I leaned forward to catch him in a kiss.

"Just because you saw me snog a guy, doesn't mean I have to," I heard Ellyn proclaim, and the clicking of heels walking away. Kady hastily followed her.

Then the nagging voice came back.

Was I going too fast with Robert? It had been only two weeks and already I was snogging him in public. In my doubt, I broke apart and suggested, "How about we get some dinner?"

And Robert had no clue. He smiled and lead me over to one of house elves with a platter.

The food was exquisite, I had to admit. The dinner party so far was a success.

I turned around, checking on the guys, mostly Sirius Black for any suspicious activity. I didn't have to worry about Sirius, since he was bugging the house elves for more of those "awesome little sandwiches" and Tina was looking neglected. Remus was talking to his date, a girl with dark blonde wavy hair from Ravenclaw named Christine. She was really nice. And James was-where was James?

I searched the room for a hint of green robes, glasses, messy hair. And I didn't find anyone who remotely looked like him.

He was probably out with Patricia.

He had probably left with Patricia.

Why was I thinking about James and Patricia?

"Who are you looking for?" Robert suddenly asked me, sipping on a goblet of pumpkin juice.

Don't panic. "Ellyn," I answered calmly.

Robert glanced around the room quickly and pointed over to a remote corner. "She's...um...with Stephen." I looked over to see Ellyn already snogging Stephen. Of course.

"Oh," I said softly, looking around at all the guests.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time in general...but where was James? I slowly scanned the room, looking at each person and examining them. James wasn't in here. He had skipped the party, probably with Patricia, who was also absent. My heart sank.

"Anything wrong?" Robert asked, placing a kiss on my cheek.

I turned to look at him with a bright smile. "Absolutely nothing is wrong. I'm great." But even then, my words sounded hollow.

I was going to have the greatest night of my life, without him, once and for all. No matter what it would take.

* * *

"I love you."

In the middle of the kiss, I hesitated, the impact of the previous words hitting me hard. I pulled away, stepping back one step.

"Robert, we've been together for only two weeks," I said, rationally. Robert tried to bring me closer to him, pulling me further away from the action of the party.

"I've never felt like this with another girl," Robert explained, placing soft kisses along my jaw. I told myself to keep breathing. "You're amazing, Lily Evans. I've fallen in love with you."

This is what I always wanted. I wanted to love Robert. I wanted him to love me. It was what I wanted all along. "I love you too," I whispered back, as he brought me into a slow kiss.

* * *

"It's a strawberry tart," I was explaining to Robert ten minutes later.

He looked at it with apprehension. "A...strawberry...tart?" he questioned, taking it from my hands and holding it cautiously. "What does it taste like?"

"Like strawberries," I said with a straight face.

Robert peered at me, a grin appearing on his face. "Really now?"

"Really."

Five minutes later at eight, Dumbledore got up in front of the room and cleared his throat. We all turned to look at him. "I hope you enjoyed tonight's festivities made possible by our Head Boy and Girl." I softly smiled. "But now, it's time for rest. Good night."

Everyone groaned, slowly streaming out of the room. I stayed behind with Robert, looking for Ellyn and Kady.Ellyn was about to walk by in the group of people when I pulled her out of it and Kady ended up finding me.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your common room?" Robert asked, turning toward me.

I smiled, shaking my head. "You don't have to. I can walk back with Ellyn and Kady."

He leaned forward and kissed me, whispering "I love you" almost inaudibly. I whispered it back and then he gone.

"...What was that?" Kady finally asked, as we started walking back to our dormitory.

I looked at her confused. "What was what?"

"That," Ellyn added, "That thing with Robert."

"What thing?"

"You've gone out for him for two weeks Lily," Ellyn said, "You're going too fast."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I tried to play it off.

"You don't really love him, do you?" Kady asked.

"Maybe I do!" I announced, a bit angry, "what's so wrong with it?"

Ellyn glared at me. "Everything. Lily, you don't know Robert. You don't know if you love him cause you've only known him for two weeks."

Why couldn't anyone be happy for me?

I swung around quickly. "I'm going to clean up!" I shouted, trudging back toward the Great Hall.

Nothing was going to ruin my night.


	8. Your Wound

_O, I'm gonna be wounded  
O, I'm gonna be your wound  
O, I'm gonna bruise you  
O, you're gonna be my bruise_

_- _"The Word of Your Body", Spring Awakening

* * *

I walked back into the Great Hall and heaved a huge sigh, running a hand through my hair to get it out of my eyes, which only made it worse. 

"You okay?"

James.

I looked up into his hazel eyes that looked concerned and frowned. "What are you doing here?"

James raised an eyebrow at me. "I'm here to help clean up. You do need help, right?"

I about growled at him. Instead, I kept my cool. "Where were you?" I asked, looking at him with a blank stare.

He looked taken back. "What?" he said, actually stepping back.

"Where were you James? During the party, you weren't here," I said, my voice reaching a dangerous low point.

"I was with-I was-" James stuttered and I could tell he didn't want to reveal where he was.

I walked away, refusing to look at him. "Exactly." And I wouldn't say anything more about it.

"I'm sorry," James explaining, trying to get my attention. "I know how important your dinner party was to you. I guess I wasn't thinking." James sighed loudly.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

Was I supposed to be the bigger person and just let it go?

"Fine," I whispered, turning back around and facing him. "Fine."

James nodded. "Thank you." And I knew he was being sincere.

Slowly, I walked over to the balloon banner, and dragged over a chair to take it down. The chair was a bit rickety, and I tried to steady myself on the creaking chair. I swifted my weight to the other side and suddenly the creaking stopped. I glanced down to see James holding the chair.

It was an unspoken agreement. James held the chair while I carefully took down the balloons. I stepped down easily from the chair and James let go, looking at the balloons.

"I guess we have to pop them," I finally said, noticing his stare.

"Pop them?" James looked at me and I could see the beginning of a mischievous smirk.

Even though I was still somewhat angry at him, I had to hold down a smile. "Yes, pop them."

James set a black balloon down on the ground and climbed up on the rickety chair. "Ready?" James looked at me in expectancy. I looked back in expectation and nodded.

_Pop!_

The balloon popped loudly, reverberating on the walls. I flinched at the sound, and James whipped around with a grin. "Try it. It's fun. You know you want to."

"What?" I looked at him like he was stupid. "I'm not going to jump off chairs."

James's grin continued. "Yes, you are." Suddenly, he grabbed my hand, pulling me up on that rickety chair.

I wobbled for a bit, until he steaded the chair. I looked down at him. "I don't want to pop the balloon," I told him as he placed a balloon in front of me.

"And why not?" He crossed his arms in almost a joking manner.

I shrugged, and the chair dangerously wobbled again. James uncrossed his arms and put his hands back on the base of the chair. "I just-don't," I explained. I didn't want to hear the sound echo in my ears again.

James sighed, looking down and quickly up again. I turned away from him and there was a short silence.

"Boo!" I slipped from the chair, topping backwards into James. He wasn't expecting me to fall back, probably forward to pop the balloon, but he still caught me and we both fall hard on the floor. But it was harder for him since he got the full impact and he was my cushion.

"Ugh," James groaned, "Lily, can you get off please?" I got up quickly, my face flushed, and proceeded to hit him. "Ow! What was that for?" James rubbed his arm tenderly in the place where I hit him. He was still lying on the floor.

"For making me fall off that chair!" I said harshly, hitting him once again for effect.

"I was just trying to get you to fall forward. You weren't supposed to-ow-fall into me." He was still on the floor, acting as if he was in such pain.

I held out my hand for him with a sigh and he took it, almost making me topple over again by his weight.

"Okay," James said, raising his voice and rubbing his back, "Maybe I should pop the balloons. You can work on the rest of the stuff."

I rolled my eyes at him and used my wand to get rid of the candles overhead. The spell I used to clean up the confetti wasn't exactly cleaning it up, instead, it was scattering it around even more. I was beginning to get angry at the little sparkly pieces of plastic and came up with my own spells to get the confetti away. Finally, I dropped to my knees, scooping up the confetti into little piles.

"What are you doing?"

I looked up briefly to see James staring at me weirdly. "I'm picking up the confetti," I explained, placing a pile in my hands, "I can't find-"

James got down from the chair and grabbed his wand, using a spell I never heard of. And, just like that, the confetti was gone. Not even a trance. Not even the pile in my hands. James casually put his wand back and got back to popping balloons like it wasn't a big thing.

He was trying to upstage me.

"Name a game," James said suddenly, as I heard a loud _pop!_ behind me, making me cringe.

I turned to look at him again. "What?"

"A game. Something to pass the time."

I blinked at him. "Like what?" I asked, totally confused.

James shrugged, sitting down in the chair. "A game to keep us busy. Like-I'm not sure. Just something."

I thought about it for a second. "Like I give you a topic and you have to say what you think about it?" I suggested. It was the first thing that popped in my mind and maybe it wasn't what he was look for.

"Yeah, like that. Give me a topic," James said, looking at me intently.

A topic. Hmm... What was a good topic? Suddenly, a thought came to mind. "Plays."

James 'hmm'ed, and sat back. "Well, I haven't read many of them. There was one that I read awhile back, and all I knew about it was that it was banned for many years so, of course I wanted to read it. It was-something with a guy named Melchior."

"Spring Awakening," I voiced.

James nodded. "Yeah, that one. It was very, well, _interesting_."

I smiled, grabbing a banner and folding it up by hand. "Okay, your turn."

James pondered for a subject for a minute, tapping his finger on his chin in a questioning manner. "Art."

I finished with the banner and sat it down, thinking about the topic of art. "Um, I used to like art a lot when I was a young kid. I had boxes and boxes of crayons and markers with numerous coloring books. I really want to try ceramics though, but I've never gotten the chance." I shrugged.

James agreed. "Yeah, ceramics looks like it would be a fun thing to try."

And, as we cleaned up, the questioning continued for about another hour, back and forth, easily.

"The zoo."

"I don't actually remember the last time I went to the zoo. I guess I was really young. But I would love to go back," I revealed, folding the last banner.

James stood back to a vantage point and checked over what we had gotten accomplished. It looked like everything was finished. Banners were folded, candles were gone, confetti disappeared and all the balloons were popped. And we didn't have to do anything about the food.

"Hmm..." James muttered, looking around at the empty space of the Great Hall, circling the room.

I raised my eyebrow at him. He continued his walk, hands in his dress robe's pockets. He wheeled around on one foot and looked me in the eye with that mischievous smirk.

"Do you still listen to muggle music?" James asked, with that smirk, and a glint in his eyes that told me he was planning something.

"Yes," I said slowly, anxiously waiting for his next remark.

"That song. I heard it this summer, by a band named..." I braced myself. "Queen."

My eyes lit up. "Queen." I found my lips curving into a smile. "Bohemian Rhapsody."

James gave me a look of recognition and continued that smirk.

* * *

"I see a little silhouetto of a man. Scaramouche, scaramouche will you do the fandango-Thunderbolt and lightning," James threw down some fake thunderbolts, "-very very frightening me-" 

He pointed at me randomly after his little solo and I immediately sang "Galileo!" at any note.

"Galileo!" James repeated, jumping up and down to the imaginary music.

"Galileo!" I ended up cracking up and it came out as a laugh.

"Galileo!" James answered, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically.

"Galileo, figaro, magnifico!" James and I both sang-shouted.

I continued to sing the random opera; James throwing in whatever he could when it wasn't too high for him.

...I couldn't believe I was doing this.

"Ready?" James asked me, I guess, but he said it turning away from me, singing as much as he knew.

"For me, for me," I went on, "For meeeee!" I couldn't watch from where I was standing, as James went into a silent guitar solo, with the headbanging of course.

"Okay, okay, okay!" I shouted over the random "dundundun"s from James.

He looked up at me and stopped his solo. "...That was my solo," he said, trying his best to sound dejected.

I grinned. "You looked ridiculous," I said.

James grinned back. "You were doing it with me," he retorted.

He had me.

"Let's just stop the ridiculous all together," I reasoned and James sat back down on the chair next to me.

I broke down into laughter, holding my head in my hands, refusing to show my face. I glanced through my fingers to see James looking at me amusedly. "I can't believe I just did that," I muttered through my fingers.

"I guess you did have a _dance_," James said.

I looked up from my hands and said, "No," and kept it at that.

"Is McGonagall supposed to come check on the clean-up?" James asked, leaning back in his chair as if he was tired.

"Yeah, at ten," I answered.

James checked the time. "Nine thirty. Great. We have thirty minutes to kill until she gets here."

"Name a game," I mocked him for earlier.

James looked over at me. "What?"

"A_ game_," I answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Something to pass time."

James grinned at me, and pondered. "All right. Hit me, hit you." I gave him a blank look in return. "Okay, so, you get to hit me on the shoulder as hard as you can. And then, I'll _pretend_ to hit you back."

That made no sense. "Why are you pretending to hit me back?" I questioned with a confused frown.

"I'm not going to actually hit you back," James said like it was nothing new.

I tried to hold back a smirk. "Afraid to hit a girl?" I teased, standing up in front of him.

James got up too and stood in front of me. "Maybe," he answered, blinking at me.

"Maybe yes, or maybe no," I continue to tease him, the smirk appearing on my face.

He stepped back, as if he didn't want to answer my question. "Lily, I don't want to wound you."

I crossed my arms. Why did he have to act like I was such a girl? Why couldn't he treat me like an equal?

I hit him on the shoulder, putting some energy behind it. "There. Now it's your turn."

He was looking at me with an unreadable emotion. "Lily..."

"I don't care!" I almost shouted, "I don't care if you wound me because it doesn't matter. It's a _game, _James."

James hesitated, stepping closer to me again. He caught my gaze and held it. "I don't want to bruise you," he said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper.

I opened my mouth to protest but he continued.

"I don't want to...that way." He finished as merely more than a breath, and pressed his mouth down on mine hard.

All I could feel was shock.

We were friends now.

This wasn't happening.

He kissed me like it was the end of the world. Like he knew it would be the only time we would ever kiss again.

It was even more fast and passionate than that night. And my mind started to wander, as I fell into the kiss.

Robert.

Robert was my boyfriend.

I loved Robert.

I wasn't kissing Robert.

I couldn't do this.

Finding my conscious mind, I lifted up my arms and pushed back as hard as I could, breaking James away from me.

"What the hell, James!?" I yelled at him, in blind fury.

And he just looked at me, through those darkened eyes of his, breathing heavily.

"I can't do this, James!" I continued, not even waiting for an answer, "I _can't_. We agreed to be friends and I want to be friends with you. I _can't_!" My words toppled over each other. I couldn't string together a logical thought.

"I _can't_," I whispered, my voice braking.

James still didn't say anything.

I turned around quickly, finding my way out of the door.

I didn't get very far until I fell against a wall, too emotional to go any farther.

I loved Robert. I established this. Then why was I sitting here against the wall, almost crying to myself over the guy who basically stalked me for six years.

My fingers trembled as I hid my face in them, trying to erase the memory.

I had James as a friend now. It was normal between us. It was nice to get past all the jokes and invitations to Hogsmeade. Why was all of this happening now?

I couldn't do this.

I couldn't let James bruise me.

I couldn't be like this.

"Lily." I looked up, meeting Robert's eyes.

Robert.

"What are you doing here?" My voice shook as I tried to stable myself. But it wasn't working.

"I was coming to see if you were done undecorating. Are you all right?" Robert dropped to his knees in front of me, coming down to my eyesight level.

I shook my head. "I...I..." I couldn't tell him that I had kissed another guy. I couldn't break his heart like that. "I don't feel that well," I lied, shivering.

Robert nodded with understanding. "Let me help you back to your common room. You need to get some rest." He grabbed my hands, pulling me up to a standing position, and started walking with me back to the common room.

I decided just to go with him and not think about anything else. Not James. Not the dinner party. Not anything. Except for getting back to the safety of my bed.

I slid under my covers, trying my best not to draw attention to me.

"Lily?"

Too late.

I pulled my covers up to my chin and stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah?" I answered; surprised to find my voice strong.

"Are you okay?" Ellyn's voice carried through the room.

I didn't answer straight away. I paused, and said, "I'm okay. I will be."

There was a rustle from across the room and a weight on the bottom of my bed. I sat up a bit to see a Ellyn sitting on the edge of it. At least, I thought it was her. It was pretty dark inside our dormitory. "I'm sorry," Ellyn finally said.

I sighed. "It's okay," I exclaimed, sitting up, "It is. You can think what you want-"

Ellyn shook her head. "No, that's it. I judged you two too fast. If you guys are in love, then, I'm happy for you. I really am."

I nodded. "Thank you," I whispered.

I couldn't see Ellyn's face but I could tell she was relieved. She walked back to her bed, crawling under the covers.

Should I have told her?

I had to tell somebody.

I had to know what to do.

"Ellyn..." I whispered. "I have to tell you something."

* * *

"You know what you have to do, right?" Ellyn asked, sitting across from me on my bed. Everyone else was already asleep in their beds, and it was pitch black in the room. 

I looked down. "I have to stop this thing with James," I concluded, nodding to myself. "I can't be with Robert with James in the way."

"You can't get yourself in any compromising situations with James. You must treat him like any of us," Ellyn elaborated.

"I can't think about him as anymore than a friend. He's James, my friend. He's not the most important person in my life. Robert is," I summarized.

"Yeah," Ellyn agreed.

From now on, James and I were just friends. We weren't going to do things together, go places together, work together (unless on Head Boy and Girl stuff), dance together.

He was going to be a mutual friend.

And I was going to do anything to keep it at that.

* * *

Not much to say but only review. And maybe the next chapter will be out a little slower than the others because I need to write more so I don't fall behind. Thanks for reading! 


	9. The Girl

I walked down the corridor quickly, looking for Ellyn and Kady. It was December 27th and about a month had passed since the last...incident. Today was another Hogsmeade trip and I had to talk to them before Robert and I left.

Robert and I had become an official couple since then. It was nice, having a boyfriend. Robert was everything a girl could ask for. And I was happy.

I stopped in the middle of the corridor, finally seeing Ellyn walking the opposite way.

"Ellyn!" I shouted to get her attention.

She stopped and I made my way over to her. "Are you going to Hogsmeade or not?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was planning on just resting today."

Ellyn didn't last very long with Stephen. She said she had gotten bored with him or something. Which wasn't a surprise. She either was single or taken for only a couple days. It was an Ellyn thing.

"You have to come," I pleaded with her. It just wasn't a fun time without my friends there.

Ellyn laughed. "You have Robert, Lily. Don't drag me along to get in the way of your _time_ together." There's that emphasizing one word thing again.

I gave her a look. "You're coming," I finished, running off to find Kady.

"I'm not!" Ellyn shouted after me.

Maybe Kady was waiting outside already. It was snowing outside and almost freezing and I didn't have my cloak. I hastily peered out of the doors, shivering at the cold air seeping through.

Nope. She wasn't there.

I fought against the crowd heading outside to check anywhere else.

There she was, talking with someone I couldn't place because he had his back to me. As I strode up to her, I realized she was talking to Sirius Black. Pushing any questions as to why to the back of my mind, I stopped next to her, waiting to be noticed.

She turned to look at me and finished her word of "okay" to Sirius. I really wish I knew what they were talking about. "Yes?"

I raised an eyebrow at her in curiosity as Sirius disappeared. "Um, you're going to Hogsmeade, right?"

Kady nodded. "Never miss one."

"Want to meet Robert and I in the Three Broomsticks at two o'clock then?"

Kady said a quick sure in response before rushing off. I made my way back to the dormitories, grabbing a cloak, scarf, hat and mittens to keep warm from the December weather. My light blue scarf was a new accessory of mine; Robert had gotten me it for Christmas.

I walked down to the grounds to see Ellyn leaning against a wall, looking completely furious that she was here. Kady was standing next to her with a grin on her face as if she knew something Ellyn didn't.

I was about to walk over to them but was stopped by someone wrapping their arms around me. I reached up to hold his freezing hands in mine because mine were warm from my mittens. "Hey," I said, leaning back into him.

He kissed the side of my cheek before he let go to stand in front of me. "Hey," Robert said, cheeks flushed from the cold. He looked utterly cute.

I grinned. "What are planning on doing today?" I said as he grabbed my gloved hand in his.

We started walking. "Not Madame Puddifoot's," he said with a laugh.

I nodded. "Definitely not. We should boycott that place." It was a little inside joke between us that that place was something we were against. Didn't make that much sense, but it became a long running joke.

I glanced around before leaving to catch glimpses of my friends again. Ellyn and Kady were gone; they had probably already left. Sirius was flirting with girl of the day...-well, I don't even know her name. Remus was talking with Christine, his date to the dinner party that he was still going out with. Ellyn's little 2nd year brother Sam-or sister-I could never remember; he/she had really long hair and I could never remember if Sam was a boy or girl. James was talking to this one girl-not Patricia-Jasmine something. He had dumped Patricia only a couple days after the ball. I think that Jasmine girl was his new girlfriend.

With that last look, Robert and I left for Hogsmeade.

* * *

"Lily!" I stood up from my seat and searched the room. "Over here!" I turned around to see Ellyn and Kady standing by the door, huddling in their winter gear. 

I waved them over and they came rushing in, sitting down in the booth across from us. "It's freezing out there," Kady huffed, shedding her scarf. Ellyn nodded in agreement, still shivering in her cloak.

"And then we'll need to get some fir-" Sirius Black walked by, talking to Peter, in a whisper. That was all I caught of the conversation before they stopped and noticed us listening to them.

"What are you planning, Sirius Black?" I asked him, as menacingly as I could.

He leaned against our table and whispered, "Would you love to know?" with his signature smirk.

I shrugged. "Actually, I would," I answered seriously.

Sirius's smirk continued. "You'll find out, won't you?"

I looked around at the others to see their reactions. Robert was glancing at Sirius confusingly, Ellyn was frowning, and Kady was...smiling?

"All right, Kady. What's going on?" I said immediately, staring her down.

She looked taken back. "Absolutely nothing," Kady answered with a superficial smile.

I groaned, turning back to talk to Sirius. "Sirius Black, if you are planning something that you dragged Kady into-"

Kady shook her head from behind me. "He didn't."

I was getting frustrated. "Spill, you guys."

Sirius just leaned even more forward. "You just wait." With a glance around the table, he left with that smirk.

I sighed, sitting back, and decided it was time to question Kady.

"Kady Dawn Matlow," I said slowly, locking my eyes with the girl across from me.

She just stared back. "What?" she asked slowly and I could tell she was unsure whether or not to actually respond.

"What. Was. That?" I added an emphasis to each word.

Kady shrugged. "Um, just wait," she answered, taking her drink and turning her attention onto it.

She was avoiding me.

I was about to question her further when Robert touched my hand, taking it in his. I turned and looked at him. "Just forget about it for now," he said.

I frowned, but silently agreed. Whatever it was, I would find out.

Snow flurries obscured my view on I walked along the road with Ellyn and Kady. Ellyn had grabbed a handful of crunchy snow and was rounding it into a snowball by her gloved hands. Kady was twirling around in the snow, enjoying the winter wonderland. I walked with them, hands in my pockets, trying to get warm from the cold.

Robert had left with two of his Ravenclaw friends that he met at the Three Broomsticks, and I decided to spend some time with Ellyn and Kady. Though I soon found out that walking through the cold snow storm wasn't much fun.

"Ow!" Kady spun around to meet Ellyn's eye. Ellyn grinned in return and held out her hands which were snowball-less. "That wasn't funny!"

Ellyn shrugged with the same grin, stopping to bend down and grab another handful of snow.

"Oh, no, you're not!" Kady shouted, grabbing her own handful of snow.

I took a step back, determined not to get in the middle of the snowball fight.

Soon, snow was flying across me, coming down in flaky sheets. The wind blew the snow in my face and I ended up being colder than I thought possible. Great.

"NO MORE SNOW!" I finally shouted, throwing my hands up in the air. The snowball fight ceased. "Good," I sighed in relief, resuming my walk.

Ellyn and Kady looked at me, then at each other, and dropped the snow from their hands. I turned to Kady as soon as I got the chance.

"So, this thing-" I started to say.

Kady shook her head furiously, snow falling from her hair. "I'm not telling you, Lily. It's a secret."

I frowned. Ellyn raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why are you working with _Sirius Black_?" She said his name as though it was a swear word.

Kady reciprocated Ellyn's tone, placing her hands on her hips and stopping in the middle of the road. "Why do you say it like it's a bad thing?"

Ellyn ignored Kady's remark. "I don't get it," she mumbled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Just tell us what it is!" I said quickly, trying to get to the bottom of this.

Kady shook her head again. "No possible way," she announced with a small smile.

I groaned in frustration. No matter what – I would know.

* * *

"And then-get this, she said meet tonight by the statue on the second floor. Man, I'm so lucky." Sirius sat back in his chair, placing his arms behind his head and shaking his head in humorous disbelief at his "luck". 

Remus looked to us, and then back at Sirius. "That's...great."

I went back to slowly eating my food and listened to Sirius talk about his new girl. "I need to tell this all to James," Sirius exclaimed and I glanced up quickly to the spot where James usually sat. He wasn't there.

I nodded to his seat and said, "Where is he?"

Sirius stood up from his seat, scanning the room. "Let's see." Out of nowhere, he climbed up on his chair so he was taller than anybody else in the room. "There!" Sirius announced, pointing over to the Ravenclaw table.

We all scrambled to look and saw James sitting next to a dark-haired petite girl. That Jasmine-something girl. "Jasmine Kennelworth," Kady said suddenly.

"Nice," Sirius exclaimed with a grin, "Good choice."

All the girls looked at him wearily. "No," Ellyn simply warned him, shaking her head.

I turned to look at everyone else and saw Remus thinking about something. "Jasmine Kennelworth. Sounds familiar."

Ellyn rolled her eyes. "Sirius go out with her?"

Sirius pondered it for a second. "I don't remember but I always can check my list."

We all looked at him again, this time in disbelief. "You keep a _list_?"Ellyn asked incredulously.

Sirius shrugged, and I could tell he was wondering why everyone was staring at him like he was some sort of a freak. "Yeah. Doesn't everyone?"

I decided to just ignore that comment as Ellyn said "no" and left it at that.

"Jasmine Kennelworth..." Remus was muttering, and I could only guess that he was still trying to figure out who she was. But she sounded familiar to me too. It was bugging all of us.

We lapsed into silence, thinking of this girl who was sitting next to James.

"Hey." I looked up to see Christine Strole, a 7th year Ravenclaw and Remus's girlfriend since they went together to the dinner party. She sat down in the seat next to Remus.

Remus smiled at her before asking, "Why aren't you sitting with your other friends?"

Christine frowned. "James took my seat so I'm taking his."

Wait. "Do you sit there everyday?" I asked her, nodding toward the table.

Christine nodded in response. "Almost everyday."

Kady caught on. "What do you know about this Jasmine Kennelworth?"

Everyone leaned forward to hear her answer. She stared at us as if we crazy as Remus shook his head in amusement. "Um...she's nice?" Christine said, scooting back a little bit.

We all sighed, sitting back. "Well, it's great to know James left us for someone who's nice," Sirius said sarcastically, and then added, "And someone who's nice-_looking_."

I shook my head at him, and then continued to ponder on this mystery girl. James had actually left his friends to go sit with her. How serious was this getting?

"Did they look serious?" I asked.

Christine shrugged. "All they were doing was talking when I was over there."

Sirius frowned. "Just talking. That's lame. If he's going to leave us, he should leave us for something better than talking."

I felt compelled to roll my eyes at him but I stopped myself. "Nice," I commented instead.

If I would have known at the beginning of this year that I would become friends with James and a month later I would become friends with James's friends and talk about James's personal life, I wouldn't have believed myself.

Though, I found it...well, _nice_ to be friends with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. They were strange (maybe not Remus) but still, they could make me laugh and brighten up my day. It was strange.

Sirius glared at the girl sitting next to James. "Hey," Christine said to get his attention. He looked over at her. "She _is_ really nice so just don't hate her because James is spending his time with her, not you," she announced logically. Sirius frowned, but he, and all of us, knew she had a point.

"I'm going to go to the library," I decided, standing up quickly to gather all of my stuff.

"Je vais aller à la bibliothèque," Ellyn repeated immediately.

Kady rolled her eyes. "You don't really need to share with us your second-language skills, do you?"

Ellyn shrugged. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking."

I grinned at the randomness and left the table to go to the library.

Thirty minutes later I sat at a table in the back of the library, secluded from everyone by towers of bookcases. Books were laid out in front of me, opened to random pages and sprawled against other stacks of books. My hand rested on my homework, as I read the page across from me. I slowly and carefully planned my next sentence and wrote it down.

Now I needed a book about uncommon items. There were a lot of books like that.

Time to search.

I left my stuff at the table and got up, walking to the nearest bookcase. Fingering each book's spine, I walked down the rows, reading the titles. "Rare Magical Items". I pulled the orange book out of its place and set it under my arm as I continued to look.

Without even looking, I rounded the corner and almost ran into someone going my way.

"Sorry," I immediately apologized, without even looking their way. They apologized back and I glanced over to see who it was as I went to check the next bookcase. And had to glance again. A double take.

Jasmine.

Didn't expect that.

I brushed it off and continued looking through the rows of books, leaving Jasmine in the next aisle over. "The Book of All Magical Items". Okay, that might work. I pulled it out to see hand behind it.

I jumped back, not expecting to see that. Cautiously, I leaned forward to peek through the books to see if the hand was still there, and instead, found a pair of dark eyes staring back at me.

"I'm sorry," someone said. The eyes said? Who- "You just scared me."

"Um..." I hesitated, and decided just to reply. "Yeah, I didn't expect to see a hand there."

There was a laugh on the other side of the bookcase and the sound of footsteps. I raised an eyebrow as I was left there alone again.

I transfered the books to my other hand and started to walk down the aisle but saw someone round the corner into my aisle. It was her again-Jasmine, I mean.

And then it hit me.

Jasmine was the hand. Well, Jasmine's hand was the hand. I just talked to her through a bookcase. Strange.

"Hi, Jasmine Kennelworth," Jasmine introduced herself, holding out her hand.

I could of said I already knew who she was. But I didn't. I stared at her hand, and then remembered my manners. "Lily Evans," I said, taking her hand and shaking it.

She was pretty. I could tell why James was going out with her. Dark wavy hair, dark eyes, and nice...so far. She looked down at my books and smiled. "Working on homework?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I trailed off but knew I needed to say something else to be polite. "Are you here working on homework?"

Jasmine shook her head. "I was just looking through the books for an interesting one I could read. I've already read all the ones I've gotten for Christmas."

Christmas was only a few days ago. How could she read that many? "How many did you get for Christmas?" I asked.

"Only three. Finished them yesterday."

She was smart. James usually didn't go for the smart girls. Or was that Sirius? I couldn't even keep track anymore.

I nodded in understanding. "Have you read Uncommon Spells by Grania Gabor?" I asked, to keep the conversation going.

Jasmine grinned. "Fifth year," she announced.

"Me too."

This was becoming really strange. She thought about something and said, "Have you read Magical Everything by Melchior Aldridge?"

I went through my mental checklist of all the books I've read over summer and during school. And it didn't sound familiar. "I don't think so," I finally said.

"I'll bring it to you tomorrow during breakfast," Jasmine exclaimed, setting her bookbag down and getting out a piece of parchment. She quickly jotted down a note and stuck it back in her bag. A reminder. Checking the time, she quickly stood up and turned to me. "I have to go but it was nice talking to you, Lily."

"You too," I replied with a smile as she hurried away. I stared after her, the look on my face showing confusion, disbelief, and...more confusion.

Wasn't the girlfriend of your friend supposed to be evil in fiction stories about this?

Why did she have to be so nice?

And why did I want to be her friend?

At least my life isn't clichéd.

* * *

"ELLYN!" I shouted as soon as I walked through the portrait. 

Ellyn was conveniently sitting on the couch, working on an essay. "Why don't you just call for Kady or someone else? Why is it always me?" she groaned, closing her book and sighing.

I sat down next to her and whispered, "She's _nice_."

Ellyn looked at me like I was crazy. Which wouldn't be the first time. "O...kay," she said slowly, nodding her head. "Who's nice?"

I leaned forward. "Jasmine."

That caught Ellyn's attention. She suddenly looked interested and stopped looking at me like I was crazy. "Really? How do you know this?"  
I shrugged. "I talked to her. In the library."

Ellyn 'hmm'ed. "Interesting. The library."

"She _reads_," I announced as if it was the weirdest thing in the world. As if I said "she pretends she's an alien", or something like that.

Ellyn raised an eyebrow. "Wow...reading," she said sarcastically.

I frowned at her. "She reads the same books as me. She's letting me borrow a book from her."  
"Who is?" Kady say down on the other side of Ellyn and turned to face me.

"Jasmine. She _reads,_" I said again.

Kady looked sincerely surprised. "She _reads?_" she questioned, and not sarcastically either.

"Yeah, reads," I repeated, "And she's letting me borrow a book from her."

I think Kady was freaked out. "But-she's supposed to be the evil girlfriend!"

"I _know!" _I said as loud as I could without yelling.

Ellyn sighed, and I was reminded she was still there. "So, someone reads? Why is this such a big deal?"

Kady and I both looked at her exasperatedly. "Jasmine Kennelworth is a _smart_ girl, Ellyn. Think about that."

Ellyn sighed. "And James is going out with a smart girl? Wow, such a shocker." She went back to her essay, shaking her head.

We rolled our eyes at her and two seconds later, Ellyn suddenly looked up, understanding in her eyes. "I know how we know her," she announced, standing up and hurrying away.

But where?

* * *

Chapter nine early for everyone. And now two new characters are thrown in. (Which, if you look at the banner I was showing you, they are the first two people on the left that I kept asking "who are they?".) 

Review.

Please?

Because reviews make me want to update. And without reviews, I don't update. It only takes a second. And it sometimes they make my day. 10 more before the next chapter? Maybe?


	10. The List

I give you chapter ten. Only six more chapters and it'll be the end of this story...

* * *

"LADIES!" 

Sirius Black.

Waking me up. _Again_.

I groaned and turned away from the door, checking the time on the way over. Ten. On a Sunday. It was a cruel world.

"Leave," Ellyn muttered, and I saw her cover her head with a pillow.

"I heard you were looking for me, though," Sirius said, walking over to Ellyn's bed where she was hidden underneath the covers and pillows.

Well, that had to be a lie.

I saw Ellyn peek out from under her pillow. "Who told you?"

...Wait. Did that mean she _was_ actually looking for Sirius? Sirius Black? The Sirius in the room at the very moment? ...What?

"Peter," Sirius answered, standing in the middle of the room. I saw his back and Ellyn's eyes peering out from under the pillow. "Why were you looking for _moi_?" he asked, and even though I couldn't see his face, I could hear the smirk in his question. And Ellyn didn't immediately start yelling at him.

I glanced back and forth between the two, totally confused.

Was I dreaming? I had to be dreaming. This sort of thing only happens in dreams. I pinched myself and winced. Okay, I wasn't dreaming. Did that mean this was real? But it couldn't be.

"Your list," Ellyn said, taking the pillow off her head and putting her hair up into a messy ponytail.

I made a confused face and I could only guess Sirius was too. "My list?" he repeated.

Ellyn nodded, pushing the blankets to one side and sitting up. "Your list. The one you were bragging about with every single girl you've dated."

Sirius stepped to the side and I was grateful; I could see Ellyn better without sitting up myself. "Yeah, what about it?"

Ellyn casually replied, "Have it?"

I could Sirius's face now since he moved and he looked thoughtful. Yes, thoughtful. He rummaged in his pockets and brought out pieces of parchment folded together. "Yep. Carry it everywhere I go," Sirius announced, patting the list.

Ellyn said the next line very calmly. "Let me have it," she exclaimed, holding out her hand.

Sirius stepped back, shaking his head. "No way. This is my _list_!" he proclaimed, holding it to him.

"Let me have it," Ellyn repeated, in a dangerously low voice.

Sirius started making his way to the door, and I sat up to see him. "No! It's mine!" he basically whined, only about a foot away from the door.

Ellyn quickly strode over to where he was and I don't think she even cared that she was only in her pajamas in front of Sirius. "Give me it," she said, reaching out to take it.

"NO!" Sirius shouted, stepping back, holding the list to his chest as if it was the most precious thing he owned.

Ellyn grabbed the corner of it and Sirius pulled back, using his other hand to try to pry Ellyn's fingers off the parchment. Ellyn used her other hand to pull Sirius's hand off her's.

It was a wrestling match.

I sat back and crossed my legs, getting comfortable to watch.

Ellyn had pushed Sirius's arm back and he was wincing, but still holding onto that list. Ellyn was also trying to slip it out of his hand, managing to get his fingers under his.

"Let go, Black," she said, twisting his one arm.

"No," Sirius growled, tightening his grip on the list.

"I'll mess up your hair," Ellyn threatened, pulling with all her might on the list.

"Don't care," Sirius retorted, making a face at her. "I'll violate your personal space."

Ellyn rolled her eyes. "Currently, I am twisting this arm," she pulled back on his arm and he groaned, "And your other one is holding onto your list. Not to mention you already basically are. So, unless you plan to violate me with your leg or something, you're stuck."

I held in a laugh at that and exchanged amused glances with Kady across the room.

"It's my list," Sirius said, pulling back so it looked like a game of tug-a-war.

"I want to see it," Ellyn said back, continuing to hold that one arm of Sirius's back. He winced again.

She needed to break his concentration or something.

I think she was reading my mind. Ellyn suddenly grinned and Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I think this is the closest you've ever been to me."

Sirius looked surprised for a second. "Hmm...I guess it is," he added, a smirk crossing his face. Ellyn took advantage of this distraction and pulled hard on his arm, and he jumped back in pain, as he let go of the list and Ellyn grabbed it, standing back.

"That _hurt_!" Sirius cried out, holding onto his arm.

Ellyn grinned, unfolding the list. "That's what you get."

Sirius frowned. "God, it's only a list," he muttered, but I could tell that he thought it was much more than a list. He was eying it as Ellyn opened it, looking for a chance to get it back.

Ellyn walked back over to her bed and sat down at the end of it, looking at the names on the list. There were numerous pages. She looked up at Sirius and gave him a disapproving look, shaking her head. "Fifty-six girls?"

Sirius shrugged. "Could be more. I forgot to write some down."

Ellyn gave him an exasperated look before skimming down the names. She got to the last page and flipped it over. "You wrote down your rejections?"

Sirius huffed. "Sirius Black doesn't get rejected. He just...comes in at a bad time."

We all rolled our eyes at him. Ellyn grinned again. "Me and Jasmine Kennelworth. Knew it."

Jasmine rejected Sirius?

And then I remembered.

_It was third year. I was sitting next to the big oak tree, resting on a Saturday. An array of voices behind me made me turn around and see what was going on._

_There was a group of people stopped right in the middle of the grounds, watching something. I walked up to the group and asked the first person who I saw. Ellyn Hatcher. _

_"What's going on?" I asked, trying to see over the people's heads._

_"A girl just rejected Sirius Black," Ellyn said to me, standing on her tiptoes to see._

_"What?" I breathed. "No one says no to Sirius Black!" I stood on my tiptoes as well and saw a girl with short dark hair walking away from the scene and Sirius standing there, watching her walk away with a confused look on his face._

_"I know," Ellyn replied, "It's pretty awesome though."_

_"Yeah," I said, setting back down again. _

_Someone actually rejected Sirius Black. That girl must have had guts._

"Third year," I announced, trying to hold back a smile at the image.

"Good times," Ellyn laughed, folding the list back up again.

Sirius frowned, taking his list back as Ellyn continued laughing. "It didn't happen like that-"

"And she just said no to him. It was unheard of then!" Kady joined in, laughing too.

"Remember when you never even talked to Sirius?" I asked Ellyn, smiling, "and never had to reject him?"

Sirius watched us from the corner of the room, making the most exasperated face I've ever seen.

Ellyn was able to say through her laughing, "And Jasmine was the absolute first to ever reject him?"

I sighed, thinking of the happy times from third year.

Sirius frowned. "I'm leaving now," he huffed, leaving the quickest he'd ever left.

"Wow," Kady said in memory of our good times.

In third year, we had barely even knew the Marauders. It was such a change from this year that it was nice to reminisce on it. We spent most our Sunday morning laughing about those times.

Sirius was still fuming about this morning at the breakfast table. All of us girls continued to grin throughout our breakfast as James, Remus, and Peter had no idea what was going on.

"So, um..." James started to say.

I was quite surprised he was sitting with us and not Jasmine. "Just don't ask," I said with a smile. James looked back at me questioningly, but didn't say anything.

"So, how's things with Jasmine?" Ellyn casually asked.

James looked a bit taken back. He looked around for a second before answering, "Fine."

Ellyn nodded. "She's nice," she continued, not even looking over at James.

James took turns looking at each of us and then said, "Yeah, she is."

"You know she rejected Sirius in third year?" Ellyn remarked, buttering her toast.

James looked at Sirius and Sirius glared back. "No," he finally said.

"She's pretty awesome," Ellyn declared, finally looking up with a serious face.

I chuckled softly at Ellyn's subtleness. James frowned. "Okay," he muttered, and then picked up his tone of voice, "Is Sirius mad at me going out with her?"

Ellyn shook her head. "He's _fine_. His ego is a little wounded though."

Sirius turned to look at James. "I don't care if you go out with Jasmine. I completely forgot about that third year incident until Miss Evil and Miss Also-Evil_ and _Miss EvilEvil decided to remind me about it."

I held back a remark about the nicknames and said, "Sorry if we reminded you about it Sirius, but you're the one who put it on your list."

Remus, Peter, and James immediately looked up at him. "They saw your _list_?" Remus asked incredulously.

Sirius frowned, glaring over in Ellyn's direction. "She _stole_ it."

Ellyn causally shrugged. "I forcefully took it."

I added, "It was pretty funny."

Sirius continued to glare and started to eat his food slowly. The guys snickered and we all went back to our food.

"Hey."

I looked behind me to see Jasmine standing there, holding a book in front of her.

James smiled at her, scooting over. "Here, you can sit next to me."

Smiling back, Jasmine shook her head. "No, it's okay. I only came over here to give Lily a book."

She held out the book she held in her hands and I took it from her. "Thanks," I said, setting it down next to me, and quickly looked at James's shocked expression.

"I'll talk to you later," Jasmine said to me, and then focused on James, "And I'll see you later." And she quietly walked back to her table.

James was looking at me as if I had done something wrong. I looked back at him and put on a mask of confusion. "What?" I asked innocently.

"You-" James pointed over to where Jasmine had gone. "You-and...you..." he stammered.

"Yes?" I said.

"You...you're...you're friends with my _girlfriend_!?" he asked as if it was the most horrible thing in the world.

"Yeah, she's pretty nice," I said, opening the book to the first page and starting to read.

James opened his mouth to say something else, but must of changed his mind, and instead closed it, shaking his head.

* * *

"Hey." Two arms wrapped around me and turned around to see Robert. I was in the corridor on the way back up to the common room, but this was a nice distraction. 

"Hey," I said, grinning.

"You seem really happy today," Robert noted, letting me go to walk with me.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about good times from third year," I said.

"I got you something," Robert said softly, stopping to look in my eyes.

I about gasped in surprise. "Really? But it was just Christmas," I exclaimed.

Robert smiled. "Yeah, I know. But I got you a New Years gift. The only problem is that you'll have to wait until New Years to get it."

I frowned at his last sentence. "I don't like waiting," I scowled, crossing my arms.

"Just be patient, my dear," Robert said, kissing me softly, and walking me back to the common room.

I walked in my dormitory to see Kady reading Ellyn's book in French, "La belle au bois dormant". I grimaced at the book, and sat down to read the book Jasmine had given me. Ellyn, who was still working on whatever essay she was working on the night before, glanced at me, and then went back to her work.

"Her prince came to rescue her!" Kady suddenly shouted out of nowhere. Ellyn and I looked up and Kady grinned at the book. "It's so _perfect_."

"Don't you hate it?" Ellyn muttered to me. I nodded in response.

"Hate it? It's so happy!" Kady exclaimed and started to ramble. "She just looks at him and she _knows_. The lights dim, there's a haze around the room, they share secret gestures. It's so romantic I could _die_."

I about gagged. "Fairy tales aren't real life, Kady," I explained.

Kady smirked at me. "You seem to be living a fairy tale life right now with Robert and all."

I rolled my eyes. "It's different. It's not _fairy tale_. It's life. Real life."

Kady tilted her head at me. "Explain."

I sighed, shrugging. "Well, it's just simple love. There's no complications, no hesitations. It's just nice. All there is is me and him. No fairy tale dragons and spells."

I looked at Ellyn and she chuckled. "Nice," was all she said.

Kady frowned at me. "No fireworks?" she asked, sounding dejected.

I shook my head. "Nothing. That only happens in fairy tales. That's why I don't like them."

Kady frowned and went back to her book.

The room lapsed into a silence for almost a whole ten minutes until Ellyn put down her quill and exclaimed, "The secret."

The secret?

The secret! The one with Sirius and Kady. I can't believe I almost forgot about that!

"Yeah, the secret," I said, looking over at Kady who was hiding behind her book.

"You don't get to know," Kady repeated, muffled from behind the book.

Ellyn and I sighed. "Yes, we do," Ellyn announced.

Kady put down her book a little bit so we could see her eyes. "No, you don't. You'll find out soon enough."

"Soon enough _isn't_ soon enough," I said, closing my book.

Kady continued to inch the book down her face and we finally saw her frown. "It's a surprise. You'll see it _soon enough_."

"A surprise with _Sirius Black_?" Ellyn slowly inquired, looking absolutely horrified at the idea.

Kady shook her head. "You'll _see_."

"I'm scared," Ellyn announced, turning to me.

"Me too," I agreed in a whisper.

Kady rolled her eyes at us and ignored us, going back to her book.

* * *

"And then, you can use this item." Jasmine leaned over the table and pointed to the second to last item on the page. I skimmed the paragraph and nodded. 

"That'll work," I said, writing it down in the last sentence of my essay.

Jasmine leaned back. "That's it."

I closed my book and rolled up my parchment. I had decided to go to the library again after dinner to find Jasmine working on an essay by herself at a table. And, me, being the polite and nice person that I was, decided to join her.

Sometimes I think I'm too nice.

But Jasmine was nice to me. Even if she was going out with James. It didn't change anything. And even though I only met her yesterday, I could see a friendship coming out of this.

I know. It's weird.

"Jasmine!" I looked up from my book to see James coming up to our table. And then he focused on me. "And...Lily. What are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "We're working on our essays," I told him.

He looked to Jasmine to see her nod. I could see James's confusion once again. "Okay," James said slowly, "Um, how much more do you have to do?"

"Oh, we're done," Jasmine proclaimed, packing away her items.

"Oh," James muttered, "Well, are you leaving?"

James was definitely uncomfortable. I almost laughed out loud.

Jasmine looked to me and I nodded, letting her go. She looked back at James and stood up, gathering her stuff into her bookbag. "Yeah."

"Let me walk you back to the common room," James said, holding out his hand for her to take.

I smiled at them and watched them go, holding hands on the way out. And I could honestly say I was finally over James. It was nice feeling.

I picked up my stuff slowly, gathering it in my arms and starting my trek back to the common room.

"Flabbergasted," I said to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

She glanced at me and let me in and I scrambled in through the the entrance.

I took a quick look around the common room to see something not...common. Sirius and Kady sitting on the couch writing out something. Maybe a list. That wouldn't be that uncommon. But they were working _together_.

I stopped in the middle of the room and just stared at them. There were only us three in the room at the moment, but I knew some more students would be coming in soon.

Kady said something to Sirius and he grinned. She nodded back and rolled up the parchment she was writing on. Sirius then said something else and made his way to the staircase for the boys' dormitory. All I could hear was mumbles, but I didn't want to get any closer and make them notice me.

Kady put the parchment in her bookbag that hung from her shoulder and said something that sounded like a question. Sirius nodded in return and then I saw something that I swear made my heart stop.

It probably wasn't a big deal to Sirius, but it was to Kady...and me, watching.

Sirius leaned forward over the railing and quickly kissed Kady on the lips, pulling back with a grin and a "thanks". Why was the only word I could hear 'thanks'? That's not even fair.

Kady grinned back as Sirius skipped up the stairs to the dormitory. There was a silence as soon as he left as Kady bit her lip and was about to do some sort of victory dance when she turned around and saw me.

"Hi," she said simply.

"Hi yourself," I answered, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Um, I'm just going to go upstairs and-yeah..." Kady exclaimed, pointing up to the girls' stairs. She tried to cross the room but I stopped her before she could get there.

"Kady..." I said, lowing my voice to show her it was a warning.

"What?" she questioned innocently.

I sighed. "Are you seriously, honestly, really falling for _Sirius Black_?" I asked.

Kady frowned. "What's wrong with that?"

I can't believe she couldn't see it. "A lot. Kady, he makes a list of girls he dates. He only dates them for less than two weeks and drops them. I don't want you to be the next."

Kady's frown deepened. "But-he _likes_ me, Lily. He _likes_ me. I know it."

I sighed again. "Just promise me you won't be too disappointed when it happens."

Kady shrugged, getting past me and going over to the staircase. "I promise," she said quietly and went up the steps.

I knew she knew that he was only using her. But she could pretend it was something more. And that's what she was doing.

* * *

Little inside information: The song I have on my profile is going to be the basis of one of my characters coming up...hmm... 

Review? (You know you want to click that little blue button. It's calling out to you...)


	11. A Turn

I was right.

I didn't want to be right but I was.

The next day, Sirius was seen with some girl with Hufflepuff and didn't even give Kady a second glance.

The rejection on that girl's face made me almost want to cry myself. But she kept to her word. She didn't cry. She didn't hex him into oblivion. She just...let it go.

"It never happened," she told me afterward.

And I hoped she would stick to that.

Not before long, it was December 30th, the day before New Year's Eve. At breakfast that morning, Sirius was finally willing to tell the secret.

"Ready?" Sirius asked for the millionth time.

"Yes, now just tell us!" I practically snapped back at him, tired of his games.

Sirius stood up for a dramatic effect or something. "Get this: New Year's Eve...party!" He finished with a huge grin as everyone at the table just stared at him.

"_This_ is what Kady and you were working so diligently on?" Ellyn asked.

Sirius laughed. "Oh, no, we have every little single detail planned out. Checklist, please?" Kady sifted through the contents of her bag and brought out the parchment I saw her and Sirius working on that one night. "Okay, we have decorations, games, food, music, dancing, and firewhiskey, of course."

"What?" I asked, completely appalled at the idea. "Sirius, James and I are Head Boy and Girl. Did you think we'd let you get away with this?"

James shook his head, but there was an evident smile on his face. "Seems like a good idea," he said with that smile.

"James!" I scolded him, my voice reaching an insanely high pitch, "We can't have a huge party in-where is it?"

"Common room."

"-the common room! We'll get in trouble!" I finished.

James looked at me. "It's seventh year. It's the last thing we'll get to do that's spontaneous probably for the rest of our time here. We should be able to have this fun, just once."

I frowned with a sigh. "Only for the Gryffindors, right?"

Sirius laughed. "Absolutely-" I nodded. "-not!" I frowned. "Of course, if you have a date from another house, you have to invite them for that big New Years kiss."

I crossed my arms. "What about this firewhiskey I heard about?"

Sirius shrugged. "Just a little bit. It's no fun being sober at a party."

"My dinner party was fun without alcohol," I argued.

Sirius shook his head. "Lily, Lily, Lily. Just leave it up to me and Kady. We'll sort out this whole thing. You just wait until tomorrow night."

And that's what I was afraid of.

"Good morning." I turned my attention back on the scene in front of me to see Jasmine joining us. James got up as she sat down, leaning forward to give her a kiss. She sat down next to him and smiled vaguely.

Key word here being vaguely.

Something was up.

The little things that James did-touch her hand, touch her arm, smile at her, glance at her, lean into her-she didn't even acknowledge. She was out of it.

And I wanted to know why. No, I _needed _to know why.

"You okay?"

Jasmine stopped next to me and looked down where I was crouched down. I was making it look like I was tying my shoe in the middle of the corridor, but really, I was just waiting for her to catch up and needed an excuse.

She gave me a weird look. "I'm...fine."

I smiled sympathetically, standing back up. "And you're also lying."

Jasmine sighed, turning away from me, placing a hand on her head in frustration. "Lily, what-what do you do when you like someone?"

That's not what I expected. "Well, you tell them." With the exception of some circumstances though.

She looked at me wearily. "That's the problem. I _can't_."

If she was going out with James, what was wrong with her just telling him that she liked him? "Why not?"

She gave me a knowing look. "It's...it's not him."

Him? Who him? Him him? "Him?" I questioned, dropping my voice to a whisper. It just seemed like a right moment to become quiet.

Jasmine leaned forward. "Not James."

I swear I could hear crickets chirping as my heart stopped. "W-what?"

"I don't like James," Jasmine admitted, refusing to meet my eyes.

A horrible thought occurred to me and I had to voice it out loud. "You don't like Sirius, do you?"

She looked up quickly, her face showing disgust. "You're kidding me, right? I said no to him in third year."

I didn't know what to say. What was I supposed to say to the girl who didn't even like the guy she was going out with? In addition, liking some other guy.

"Who is it?" I breathed, as we stopped again.

Jasmine looked at me and shook her head. "I don't want to tell anyone. I just want to keep it to myself for now."

"I understand," I said and I did.

Only one thought was going through my mind: How could I keep this from James?

* * *

James was talking with Sirius when I caught up with them in McGonagall's classroom. Ellyn and Kady were already sitting down, talking in whispers about something. Peter and Remus were sitting across from them, talking amongst themselves. 

I sighed and took the seat next to Kady, running a hand through my hair. I could feel Kady and Ellyn's stares boring into me.

"I see you," I simply said, looking up to meet their eyes.

"You always seem to have some sort of crisis on your hands," Ellyn noted, causing me to frown at her.

"I don't have a crisis!" I argued, flushed slightly, "I'm not the one with the crisis! Why do you always think I have a crisis?" I ended my last sentence a little louder than expected and everyone turned to look at me. I sank into my chair, hiding from them.

"Then why do you look like you're about to have a breakdown?" Kady questioned.

I crossed my arms, still slumped in my seat. "Because I know something that I'm not supposed to tell anyone. But I don't know if I can keep it from...them." I almost said him but stopped myself.

Ellyn opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by McGonagall saying, "Class, today we will be reading from Advanced Spells chapter six to seven."

I scrambled to sit upright again as I felt something poke me. I whipped around to see James sitting behind me, holding out something.

Great. It was parchment. Now I'll be found passing notes in class and then be sent to detention.

I carefully took the parchment, finding a small note scrawled in the bottom corner. 'Have you talked to Jasmine lately?'

Now, what to write? I could write 'oh yes, I did, and by the way, she doesn't like you', but that would be undoubtedly cruel. I decided on 'yes'. Short and simple.

I passed the note back, never taking my eyes off of McGonagall. That way it didn't look like I was doing anything wrong.

James took it from me, fumbling a bit since he was also probably trying to stare at McGonagall instead of the note.

I waited a couple seconds until I was poked again. I stuck out my hand and the parchment was put in my palm as James curled my fingers around it. Thoughtful. I pulled my hand back and saw something written under my note. 'Did she seem distant to you?'.

I asked him the question that stuck out to me. 'James, why are you asking me about this?'

The answer came quickly. 'Because you're the only girl I can talk about this with. I trust you. I really need an answer.'

My expression softened at his words and I took my quill out of its jar and wrote 'Don't worry, everything's fine'.

Sometimes, friends lie so they don't have to hurt them...right?

'Everything's fine'. The words followed me around wherever I walked. All through Potions, all I could hear was 'everything's fine'. Why, oh why, did I have to lie to him? Why did I have to lie and feel so guilty about it? It wasn't like it was pertaining to me. But I was still caught in the middle.

I felt even more worse during my free period when I was supposed to be studying for Potions. Sitting with an open book on your lap in the common room is supposed to signify that you're studying. Then why couldn't I study?

Rationally. I needed to go through this rationally.

Okay. Jasmine doesn't like James. She likes someone else. James could possibly like her a lot (but I don't know that for a fact) and be crushed if he ever found out. And I was here, in the middle, between a new friend and an old one, wondering what to do next.

Well, that didn't help.

I tapped my dry quill annoyingly on my book, fast and nervously. What to do-what to do-what to do-

"Whoa. Calm down," I heard a voice say to me, momentarily stopping my quill tapping. I looked up to see James staring down at me, looking like I was about to go crazy. He pulled the quill out of my grasp and held it out of reach. "Now, you don't get this back until you tell me what's wrong."

I sighed. "I'm just...stressing." Good excuse.

"Stressing?" he asked, still holding my quill out of reach, "What do you have to stress out about?"

"Everything," I answered, putting my essay away. I probably wasn't going to end up working on it anyway.

James leaned forward, gaze connecting with mine. "Forget everything," he said softly and simply.

I blinked at him. "What?"

James didn't back away. "The party tomorrow night. Go and have fun and just forget everything that's worrying you." He held my gaze easily, not even blinking.

I sighed, looking down and breaking the stare. "It's...complicated."

James copied my sigh, and stood up, standing in front of me and grabbing my hands. I looked up at him and he pulled me into a standing position. "There. Now you have to get some motivation and go get ready."

He didn't let go of my hands. I looked down again, not ready to meet his gaze to see his fingers interlaced with his.

Don't think like that Lily.

I finally looked up and said, "Okay."

James grinned, letting me go. And for a moment, I was disappointed.

"LILY!" Bad timing Ellyn. Actually, she always has bad timing. "Get him away from me!"

I turned my attention on her to see her running over to me with Sirius quickly following her. She looked back every other step to see if he was still there, and when she noticed he was, she sped up. Finally, she stopped in front of me, panting slightly. "He's being..._annoying_."

"When's he not?" I immediately asked.

James started laughing, and I grinned in response. Ellyn only sighed as Sirius caught up with her. "Lily..." she whined, trying to hide behind me.

"Sirius, what are you doing?" I asked him.

He grinned. "Well, I thought about my list and all, and I was going through it to see who I could ask to the party tomorrow night, and I decided it was time to get a little creative."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "And...?"

"And-" Sirius shrugged. "I asked Ellyn."

Ellyn groaned behind me while James and I just blankly stared at Sirius. Finally, I got my head back to say, "Are you crazy?"

"That's how you get creative?" James asked.

Sirius didn't say anything to James's remark. "And she just yells at me and runs away. And I don't get it!"

Ellyn frowned at him. "I. Don't. Like. You."

"And she keeps saying that. And I don't get it," Sirius said and I honestly think he was really confused.

"She doesn't...like you?" I tried. There was no other way to explain it.

Sirius frowned and just walked off, muttering things to himself. We all watched him leave up into his dormitory and then turned to look at each other. "That...was scary," Ellyn finally said, shuddering.

I laughed. "I still think he doesn't get it."

Ellyn let out a breath in disbelief. "What is there not to get?"

James shrugged. "He doesn't get it when girls don't immediately think he's attractive."

"That reminds me of someone else," I joked, trying to hide my smile.

James side-glanced at me. "I heard that," he muttered.

Ellyn and I both grinned at each other. I watched as something dawned on Ellyn's face. It made me stop and fear for the worst.

"So, Lily..." Bracing myself for the worst. "Have you thought about your kiss with Robert tonight at the end of the big countdown?"

New Years kiss. I had completely forgotten about that. Mentally, I panicked. What was a New Years kiss supposed to be like? Short, simple, and just enough? Or long, passionate, lasting? Was there a rule? The panic set in immediately.

Ellyn noticed. "Don't tell me you haven't thought about it!"

I gave Ellyn a look of frustration, my shoulders slumping, and didn't answer her. Quickly, I glanced over at James to see him looking a bit uncomfortable. This must be really embarrassing for him to just stand there and listen to us talk about this type of girl stuff. But still, he stayed.

Ellyn shook her head at me. "You don't know at all. Well, what are you thinking of then?"

I sighed, myself feeling uncomfortable talking about this here. "I don't know. Maybe just a simple kiss." I shrugged.

James moved to the chair, sitting down in it and making it seem like he wasn't listening. But I knew he was hanging onto every word.

Ellyn just stared. "You mean, short, close-lipped, grandma type kiss?"

Well, that just makes it sound worse than it is. "No, just...a nice, slow, simple kiss. Maybe not short, but simple."

Ellyn laughed. "Well, that's a way to greet the New Year. Is Robert getting you anything?"

I suddenly remembered my present. "He said he has a present for me," I admitted.

Ellyn nodded at me. "That means you have to give him something in return. And a good New Years kiss could be just that."

I took a few steps back, to lean against the arm of the couch. "Ellyn, I don't want to have a passionate snogfest in the middle of a crowd."

"Show me."

Wait-what? I stared at Ellyn, confusion written across my face. "What?" I asked, the word asked in disbelief.

"James!" Ellyn turned to James, who picked up my essay and was reading it. Probably to make it seem like he was doing something. He looked up, peering at us through his hair that fell into his eyes. And he just stared. "James Potter, get over here!" Ellyn basically barked at him. He looked at me and I shrugged. Placing my essay on my books, he got up, walking over to where we stood.

"James is here. Use him."

I'm now officially confused. "What?" I asked again.

"Use James to show me how you'll kiss Robert."

My mind was now blank. I couldn't think. "...What?" I was able to get out. James stood there across from me, staring at Ellyn as if she was crazy. "I-I _can't_." What was she trying to do? Kill me?!

Ellyn rolled her eyes. "Of course you can. It's not like you guys never kissed before." James started coughing and I could tell it was fake. Or maybe he really was choking on Ellyn's sentence.

All I did was stare at Ellyn in disbelief. "Ellyn..." I warned her, refusing to look at James.

"It's purely for educational purposes only. I want to see how you and Robert plan to kiss. Now practice on James."

Ellyn said it like it was such a simple thing. But I couldn't just kiss James casually. I couldn't do this. We were in _relationships_. Wasn't this cheating or something?

I heard a sigh and looked over to see Ellyn tapping her foot impatiently. "Start kissing. I'll judge."

I finally forced myself to look at James across from me. I caught his gaze easily. He stared at me softly and gently as if telling me that if I didn't want to do this I wouldn't have to. His hands were in his pockets and stood there uncomfortably.

But I saw it.

The look again.

It was hidden but it was still there. It made me shiver, made me wonder, made me nervous.

It was only practice. It was only for educational purposes.

Was I really going to do this?

"Move closer," Ellyn instructed.

I glanced over at her with a scowl and took a timid step forward. James took his hands out of his pockets and took a step forward too. We were only inches from each other.

"Hi," James breathed. Yes, breathed. It was just that quiet.

"Hi," I whispered back, hoping to God that my voice wasn't shaking.

I could see Ellyn's grin in the corner of my vision. She knew she was torturing me, I swear. "5...4..." Ellyn acted out the countdown, saying the numbers in a low, dramatic voice. "3..." I looked at James, who stared intensely back at me. "2..." He licked his lips and it made me wonder if it was involuntary or not. "1..."

He made the first move, leaning forward and down, and catching my lips with his.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it.

He kissed me sweet and I found myself enjoying it again.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it.

He was soft, gentle, but still kissed with a passion I didn't understand why I've never been able to feel before.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it.

He brought me closer to him, one hand gently caressing my face while the other one nestled in my hair. I reacted, immediately finding my hands in his hair.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it.

He opened the kiss, and I didn't refuse as he kissed me slowly.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it.

I hate it because I liked it.

I liked it.

I loved it.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

Slowly, James let go, braking the kiss off. I opened my eyes to see him staring back at me, taking a few steps back.

He was looking at me again and I almost wanted to cry.

It was then I remembered Ellyn was standing beside us. She took a minute to ponder the situation and finally said, "I don't know what that was, but whatever it is was, it was good."

But I couldn't pay attention.

Because I felt sparks.

And I wasn't supposed to.

* * *

That was definitely one of my favorite chapters while writing it. 

So, review? Please? Because I love you guys. You're awesome.

Oh, and on my profile, there's a link to some FAQs about this story. I wrote it when I was procrastinating. Go and read and maybe leave a comment!


	12. The New Years Eve

Almost 5,000 words. My longest chapter yet.

I want to say thanks for the reviews I've gotten so far. Almost 20 for the last chapter! Wow.

And thanks for the ideas, but since I already had this chapter written, I couldn't add them. But they were awesome ideas.

Enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

* * *

My heart pounded as I was pushed against the wall. His hands roamed down my arms, leaving tingles where he last touched. He pressed against me until I couldn't breathe from the heat, the pressure, the ecstasy. 

His mouth found mine, taking me into a passionate kiss. I groaned into his mouth as my hands immediately combed through his hair. I kissed back harder than I thought was possible, drinking him in.

"God," I heard whispered into my mouth. I shuddered at the word, pulling him closer to me. I was falling in deep. I was loving every minute of it.

He slowly pulled away from the kiss, instead moving to my neck. I took in a deep breath, and my heartbeat sped up quickly. Oh my god.

"I love you."

I pulled away quickly and I found myself staring up at a ceiling.

...What?

"Are you all right?"

Voices. I blinked and saw the ceiling again. I tore my gaze away from the ceiling and took a look around me. I was lying on the floor, blankets wrapped around me.

It was a dream.

Oh.

I looked up to see Kady staring at me from her bed. Kady was the voice. "I'm fine. Just a dream..." I faded into a whisper, rubbing my head.

The dream. What had happened?

Oh yes. How could I forget?

A shock passed through me; chilling me to the bone. I reveled in the shock, staring blankly ahead at the white blanket.

I had a dream about a guy that wasn't my boyfriend.

I was beyond dead.

Because what had happened in my dream was telling me something. It was telling me of what I really wanted. And I didn't have what I wanted.

* * *

I tried to get past everyone to get to breakfast alone. I needed alone time. I needed to think through everything. But, of course, that couldn't happen.

"I see you! Stop trying to run away!"

I sped up, trying to lose Ellyn behind me. She would want answers, she would have questions, she would want to talk. But I didn't.

"LILY! STOP. RIGHT. NOW."

I stopped, breathing heavily from my jog down the hall. "Yes?" I whirled around, almost yelling the word.

"Don't yell at me," Ellyn hissed. "Now, are we going to talk or what?"

I sighed. "Okay, we'll talk." I could just tell her everything right now and get some advice.

"Now, I've seen you kiss Robert and I've also seen you kiss James and they are definitely on two different levels," Ellyn explained.

I continued walking so people wouldn't stop and try to listen to our conversation. "I know," I muttered.

Ellyn raised an eyebrow at me. "You _know_? Then what's your problem?"

I looked down at my feet, watching one step forward and then the next. "I don't like to admit things." I held back, not wanting to say what I knew out loud. I still wasn't admitting it.

"Say it."

I knew she was going to say that. I knew it was coming.

I groaned, adverting my gaze. I tried to say it but no words would come out. I shook my head and looked away from Ellyn.

"Lily, say it."

I shook my head again, keeping my mouth shut.

"Say. It."

I clenched my fists and shut my eyes closed. "I like James," I whispered, letting out a long breath.

"And...?"

I frowned at Ellyn's prodding. "And every time he kisses me, I feel _something_. I don't know what but I feel something that I don't feel with Robert. And I don't want to. But I do." Oh god. Did I really just admit that?

Ellyn was silent.

I sighed loudly, changing my walk to a brisk one again, leaving Ellyn behind. Before I could get away from her, I felt a hand on my shoulder and was forced to turn around and meet her eyes. "You know what you have to do, right?" she asked.

I knew. "I have to stop it. Again."

Ellyn suddenly broke out into a startling smile. "No."

What was she talking about? "N-?"

She cut me off. "You need to tell him. You need to stop this thing...with Robert."

Robert. My heart skipped a beat. The guy who kissed me soft, treated me nicely, loved me. I had to break his heart.

And he didn't deserve such a thing.

"Oh my god," I muttered, shaking my head.

There was another pause until Ellyn said, "That means you're going to do it?"

Was I?

Could I?

Did I really want this?

"Yes," I decided; my answer coming out slowly, as if I deliberated it as I said it. "I'm going to tell him."

Ellyn did something unimaginable. She squealed, bouncing up and down on her toes. "When?"

"Tonight," I answered, a smile almost appearing on my face, but something crossed my mind. "But Jasmine-"

Ellyn waved her hand. "Jasmine Shasmine. I'm sure she'll understand."

I actually wasn't that worried about Jasmine because I knew she had someone else in mind. But Robert...

I suddenly felt sick.

I couldn't go through with this. Especially if James was only acting like he still liked me. What if he didn't like me anymore? What if he actually _loved_ Jasmine? Would it just be better not to know? Could I live without knowing?

Or could I tell him?

Should I?

Taking a deep breath, I paced myself, telling myself that if I just got through this day, I could breathe again.

* * *

"Lily, I have to talk to you." I looked up to see Jasmine standing behind me, scuffing her toes into the floor. I glanced up to see her face and saw she was almost on the verge of tears.

Time to be an empathic listener.

I nodded, leaving my friends at the table with a short look at each of them. I quickly looked over at James to see him staring at us with confusion. And worry for Jasmine. I felt a pang of sadness and concern as I looked away and started walking with Jasmine out of the hall.

"I can't do this!" Jasmine said as soon as she was eye sight and hearing range.

I turned to her, startled at the random outburst. "What?"

"My friends are telling me I shouldn't tell you this but I can't just not tell you. I have to tell you. I feel so guilty and I need you to know but you have to promise me that you won't get mad or anything," Jasmine rambled.

Wow. She's lucky I caught most of that. "I promise," I said. What could she possibly tell me?

"No, Lily, really. It's that bad. I shouldn't tell you this. You'll hate me forever!" Jasmine cried, hiding her face in her hands, "Why _am_ I telling you this? Oh my god..."

I think she was going psychotic. "Jasmine, whatever you say, I won't hate you." Unless it was something like...she murdered someone or something.

"You know how I said I liked someone that wasn't James?" Jasmine muttered, still hidden beneath her hands.

I nodded. "Yes," I replied slowly.

She looked over her hands so I could see her dark eyes staring back at me, the beginnings of tears forming in them. "I know it's wrong to tell you, but-" she took a deep breath, "I like Robert."

Whoa.

Stop.

Back track.

"You like _who_?" I asked; the question coming out in a breathy phrase.

Jasmine inhaled sharply. "Your...boyfriend." As soon as she ended, she hid behind her hands again, turning away from me. "God, I'm so stupid!"

Jasmine liked...Robert?

I liked James?

James could possibly still like me?

What was this – a love square?

"You like _Robert_?" I asked incredulously, following Jasmine who was trying to make a quick getaway.

"Forget it. I said nothing!"

"Hey, Jasmine! Wait!" I grabbed her and made her face me. Wow. Déjà vu. She looked up at me like I looked at Ellyn earlier today. She was feeling the same way about Robert as I felt about James. She was feeling as if she was cheating on James for Robert. Just like I felt I was cheating on Robert for James. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.

"You hate me, don't you?" Jasmine asked, finally dropping her hands to her side and looking at me in the eye. Quite brave of her.

I shook my head frantically. "No, actually I don't."

Jasmine looked genuinely surprised. "But, I like your boyfriend..."

I shrugged, a smile forming on my face. "And I like your's."

"But-" Jasmine looked thoroughly confused. "You don't like James. Weren't you the one that kept refusing him?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm a hypocrite. It's a long story."

Jasmine suddenly grinned. "So, basically, if we switched boyfriends, our problems would be over."

I nodded. "Except for the fact that they may be heartbroken."

Jasmine and I lapsed into silence over that comment, and we continued walking, thinking about our situation. "Well," Jasmine exclaimed, "We can always try talking to them."

I groaned. "Great. Happy New Years guys, I'm going to dump you now."

Jasmine frowned. "What are we supposed to do?"

What a good question.

* * *

I found Robert in the library, reading. It was good that both of us had free period first in the morning. Or maybe it was bad.

I sat next to him, leaning over to see he was reading a book. "Hey," I whispered.

He looked up at me with that half-smile. "Hey," he whispered back, leaning forward to kiss me. Was I supposed to let him kiss me or just stop it there and tell him now?

My deliberation caused me to run out of time and we ended up kissing. At least I could make it a short one. I pulled back and tried to smile at him. "Robert..." I said softly.

He tilted his head at me. "Yes?"

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I never had to do this before. Especially with a great guy such as Robert. But I had to. I had to. "Do you really love me?"

He stared deep into my eyes. "Yes. Do you even have to ask?"

Not the answer I was expecting. I looked down from his gaze and thought through my words again. "Um, well, do you think we're soul mates?"

"Lily Evans, what's going through your mind?" I looked up to see him looking at me questioningly.

"Have you ever thought that maybe we aren't supposed to be together?" I asked quickly.

He frowned. "Who's been putting these thoughts into your mind?" he said, gently, lightly brushing a piece of my hair behind my ear.

This was becoming worse and worse. "James Potter," I mumbled, looking away to not see his reaction.

"James Potter?" Robert repeated, a sense of shock in his voice.

I had to get through this. I had to be brave. I looked up into Robert's widened eyes and said, "Yes."

"What did he say to you?" Robert was still surprisingly calm about all this.

"He didn't say anything, really..." I fidgeted with my robe, playing with a loose thread.

"Lily, I just...need to know."

I couldn't say it.

I couldn't admit it.

Not to Robert.

Not here.

"I love him." It came out clear, precise,_ right_. It felt right. Like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

"You love him?" Robert's voice didn't waver. He just stared at me with no emotion.

"Yes." I just said I loved James Potter. Oh my god.

Robert didn't say anything for a minute. He looked lost. Or thoughtful. It was hard to tell. "Tell him, Lily."

"What?" I voiced what went through my mind.

Robert smiled sadly. "Tell him. Don't worry about me. If you love him, tell him."

Ex-boyfriends weren't supposed to be supportive, were they? I sighed loudly, frowning over this thought. I felt awful. "You know," I finally said, "Someone does like you."

Robert actually laughed. "Who?"

I shrugged. "She'll tell you," I replied softly.

There was another silence. I didn't know what to say now.

Suddenly, I felt a hand close over mine. Robert looked at me seriously. "Promise me you'll tell him."

I nodded slowly. "I promise."

Robert got up and softly placed a kiss on my forehead. "You're really an amazing girl Lily. I sort of knew from the beginning I wasn't the one for you. I'm glad that you worked it out." He brought out a box. "Here. This was supposed to be your present for tonight, but, yeah."

I took the box from him, examining it. Slowly, I opened it to find an emerald jeweled bracelet.

"It's amazing..." I breathed. Immediately, the guilt set in. "Robert..." I started, hoping my voice wouldn't break.

He just smiled. "You don't need to feel guilty. Just think of it as a remembrance of our time together. You deserve it."

I looked down in the box to see it shining innocently at me. I looked back up at Robert and weakly smiled. "Thank you."

He smiled back and left without another word.

What did I do to deserve such an amazing boyfriend that wouldn't get mad after a break-up? Nothing, but it sure felt like it fit.

Smiling to myself, I opened the book Robert was reading, and started to enjoy my alone time before my next class.

* * *

"You're kidding me." I stared at the boxes and boxes of firewhiskey the guys were bringing in. It seemed like a never ending line of them, being stacked up in the corner of the room.

McGonagall was going to come and see and I would be dead. That was my assumption. That was what was going to happen. I knew it.

"Lighten up!" Sirius basically sing-songed, jumping across the room. "It'll be great."

I guess it was mostly my fault. I let them do this. I let them bring in the firewhiskey. I let them destroy everything. Great. And currently, I was letting them persuade me into helping them set up.

I sighed inwardly from my vantage point, which was sitting on a ladder that I was conjured, stuffing confetti and streamers into a box that would open up at midnight. Why I was doing this by hand, I have no clue. Probably because I didn't want anything to blow up like last time.

"I got the music for tonight!" Ellyn proclaimed, appearing at the top of the stairs. She bounded down them and crossed over to me. "I have the original music, like the Charmed Hippogriffs-"

"I love them!" I heard Peter shout in the background.

"But I also decided to get some music off a muggle list," Ellyn ended.

I was sort of worried. "What kind?"

Ellyn bit her lip, probably thinking. "Hmm...like, AC/DC, Kiss, The Sex Pistols..."

I shrugged. "Are you actually going to dance?"

Seven years I knew her and I haven't ever seen Ellyn dance. It was the only mystery left between us.

Ellyn laughed darkly. "I don't dance," she announced in monotone.

I rolled my eyes. "Everyone dances. You're social. You dance."

"Nope," Ellyn said, leaving me with that word.

I watched her leave as she almost pushed Sirius out of her way. I laughed to myself and continued with the streamers and confetti. The guys below me were talking amongst themselves as I slaved on the decorations.

"Care to help?" I called to them and they looked up at me.

"You're doing such a great job," Sirius announced, "I wouldn't want to mess that up!"

I frowned at him, showing my extreme dislike for his comment. "Sirius Black, you are a pompous ass."

"I thought that was James," Sirius exclaimed with a smirk.

James walked in that very moment. Coincidence? I think not.

"What was James?" he asked, stopping in front of me.

"You're a pompous ass," Sirius declared, with a shrug as if it was a common thing.

"Wow..." James said, lingering on the word, "That's new." He bent down and picked up the streamers I had dropped a couple minutes ago and held them up for me to take. I reached down and grabbed them, muttering a thanks.

When I was going to tell him again?

Not now, I hope.

Did I tell myself that I had to tell him now? No, I would wait until the party. Yes, it was better that way.

But if he didn't stop staring at me like that, I would end up blurting it out loud right now.

"LILY!"

I was ripped out of my thoughts by the shout and looked across the room to see Kady running over quickly. She stopped next to James, catching her breath.

"I heard!" Kady finally exclaimed, "I heard..."

And that's all she said before she collapsed into a chair. Really, did she run all the way here?

"Heard what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"Robert..."

Great. It had already gotten around school. "Oh," I sighed, immediately looking downcast.

I saw James staring up at me with concern. "Why? What happened?" He sounded frantic. At least he still cared for me.

I shrugged to show my indifference. "I broke up with him."

Everyone turned to me in shock. "What?" Remus asked.

"It's a long story. I just...realized he wasn't the one for me," I explained, writhing my hands at the looks they were giving me.

I could barely look at them. They were looking at me like I was crazy. James was leaning against my ladder, facing away from me. I couldn't even see his reaction.

After a couple seconds of uncomfortable silence, everyone resumed what they were doing beforehand.

* * *

I was dead.

Well, not literally.

Yet.

How did I let this party get this bad?

I looked out from my safe spot in the corner to see crowds of people all jammed into the common room, dancing, drinking, and partying, some at the same time. Some couples didn't even wait before New Year-they were already making out on the couches, in the dark corners, and even in the middle of the common room amidst the dancing.

Back in my corner, I could watch all this without getting caught up in it. Ellyn was standing next to me, watching this all with a curious expression. "You know, I've never seen a party like this before."

I sighed in frustration at her comment. "It's not bad," I tried to convince myself, but one look out at the scene again told me otherwise.

"Hey, look!" Ellyn pointed over in the middle of the crowd. "That guy is dancing on his stomach."

Whoa. He was. Was this really how I was planning to spend New Years Eve? I scanned the room for other people I knew.

Remus and Christine were talking in the other corner.

Sirius was hitting on some girl while staggering.

Kady was dancing with the other 7th year Gryffindor girls.

James and Jasmine were talking to the side of the party.

Wait.

Was she actually breaking up with him now?

I walked forward a bit to read their expressions and mouths. Calm, calm, a bit of a frown, a smile, but was it a sad smile? A laugh. Laughing wasn't supposed to be in break-ups, was it? A kiss on the cheek. And then Jasmine was pulled away by a friend. What was that supposed to be? A break-up or not? I couldn't tell. Great.

I walked back, glancing at Ellyn with a frown. It was a wordless exchange. Ten minutes later, we noticed a couch was free, and we rushed over to claim it before a drunken couple occupied it.

"Finally," Ellyn sighed, stretching out on the couch, lying back.

I enjoyed the comfort of the couch, trying to block out the loud music. At least no one was bothering us.

"Ellyn!"

Never mind.

Ellyn and I looked up at a extremely drunk Sirius Black. His eyes were unfocused on Ellyn beside me and he was having trouble standing in one place.

Ellyn coughed, probably to hide her real emotions. "Yeah?" She looked almost scared that she was answering him. Especially answering a drunken him.

Sirius moved closer in front of Ellyn, staggering a bit. "Dance with me."

There was an uneasy pause as Ellyn just stared up at him. She was holding in an incredulous smile. "You're drunk," she finally stated with a laugh, still holding his uneven gaze. She laughed probably out of surprise.

"Dance with me," Sirius repeated, slurring his words.

Ellyn looked at me and then back at him. "Why?"

"Because I want to dance with you." Sirius held a goofy grin with Ellyn.

She shook her head, laughing. "Sirius..."

Sirius threw out his arms. "Come on! We have to dance!" he shouted, making the people around us look over at us with curiosity.

Ellyn chuckled. "Okay."

I looked over at her in pure surprise and shock. "What?" I hissed at her as Sirius grinned and held out his hands for her to take.

She took his hands, as he helped her up. She turned to me, and said over the music, "Hey, if he wants to get one dance with me, I'll dance with him. Especially when he's drunk and won't remember any of this tomorrow."

I about laughed at her reasoning. "What about your 'I don't dance'?"

Ellyn shrugged, as Sirius pulled her away. "I don't."

I laughed as she went. Give Sirius what he wanted and then he'll just forget it all anyway. It was genius really.

I was trying to block out everything when I felt a weight next to me. I opened my eyes expecting to see some random person making out or partying to yell at, but instead, I was greeted with the sight of Remus Lupin.

"Remus, what are you doing?" I asked, rubbing my temples, trying to get the dull pounding in my head to go away.

He turned to me. "Wondering what you are doing sitting all by yourself over here."

I shrugged. "Well, I was talking to Ellyn and then she went to go dance with Sirius-"

"Wait!" I was interrupted. "Can you repeat what you just said?" I looked at Remus's shocked and confused expression.

"Oh, yeah," I laughed, "See, Sirius is drunk, right." Remus nodded. "So, Ellyn agrees to dance with him because he won't remember any of it anyway."

Remus grinned and looked over the crowd to spot them. I followed his gaze and spotted them over on the right. Ellyn was taking a few steps back as Sirius jumped around dangerously.

I felt Remus's gaze go back on me and I looked over at him. "Where's Christine?"

"Talking to Jasmine," Remus simply said, but I knew it wasn't going to be that simple.

"What did Jasmine say?" I asked, trying to sound very casual.

"She broke up with James."

There it was. She had done it. I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding. "Really?" I said, making sure my voice didn't give anything away.

"Lily." I looked up into the kind amber eyes of Remus. He knew. "Why didn't you just admit it sooner?"

"I didn't know sooner," I answered truthfully, looking down at my lap.

I looked up to see Remus about to say something, but Peter's voice over everyone else's interrupted. "Ladies and gentlemen, we only have three minutes left until New Years! Whoo!"

I jumped at his enthusiastic 'whoo'. Then, I jumped out of realization. "There's only three minutes left!" I announced to myself.

"Go. Find him," Remus said, giving me a little push.

I flashed him a small smile before dashing away into the group of people. People were coupling up all around me. Where was James? Where was anyone who knew where James was?

I found Ellyn inching away from Sirius first. "Seen James?" I asked her quickly.

She shook her head. "No, I've been busy dealing with this." She indicated the dancing Sirius across from her.

"Hey! I'm dahc-ing!" he exclaimed, jumping in circles.

I gave Ellyn a look of pity and Sirius a look of extreme fear before running away again. Christine. "Hey, seen James?" I shouted to her. She shook her head in response.

Two minutes.

Jasmine. "Where did you leave James?" I managed to get out. I stopped in front of her to catch a breath.

She looked around the room hastily and then turned to me. "I left him over there," she said, pointing over to a corner of the room, "but he's not there anymore."

I sighed in frustration, and said a quick thanks, before walking into the middle of the dancing and twirling around to see if I could find him.

No.

One minute.

I screamed under my breath, stomping over to the side of the room where Laura was dancing with Amy and Rose. "Have any of you seen James?"

They stared at me for almost a full ten seconds. I tapped my foot in impatience. "Why do you want to know?" Amy asked, holding her arms across her chest.

Stay calm, Lily. "Because I need to talk to him."

Laura frowned. "I haven't seen him. We all haven't."

I left them without another word. There's a reason why I hate most of my roommates.

Thirty seconds. They were starting the countdown.

I climbed onto a chair and scanned the room for any hint of black hair or glasses. And I didn't see anything.

My heart was pounding against my chest so hard I felt like I couldn't breathe. I only had ten more seconds.

10...

I pushed through the crowd of people that was holding onto their significant other for dear life.

9...

Stopping in the middle of the floor, I wildly took another look around.

8...

Flashes of color. Flashes of faces. But not the one I wanted to see.

7...

I was running out of time. I had to tell him now.

6...

I had to tell him at midnight. I just had to. I had to tell him at this party.

5...

I wasn't ever going to muster up the courage to do this ever again.

4...

The shouts and screams around me threw me off of my thoughts.

3...

Only three seconds. What could I do in three seconds?

2...

I spun around, looking for any hint of James. Anything at all.

1...

Last second. Would I be able to find him? Was I going to lose everything?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Shouts and kisses and streamers and confetti. All happened at once. I stood there, numb to the world as everything happened around me. Me, alone, in the middle of kissing and happiness. Streamers caught in the hair, falling to the ground. Confetti clinging to my clothes, shining brightly, the opposite of what I felt.

I had failed.

I didn't find him.

I had lost it all.

I blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall behind my lashes, and sighed softly, leaving my mind blank.

It was better this way.

It wasn't made to be.

It didn't matter.

Oh, but it did.

I wanted to just leave. I wanted to go back into bed and cry. But I couldn't move from the spot I was in. I was stuck. Stuck feeling despair.

"Lily."

I knew that voice. I knew that hand on my shoulder. My heart stopped as I spun around and came face to face with _him_, James.

I let out a sigh in relief, in happiness, in complete content.

"Listen, I know that-"

Shaking my head through his words, my hand found its way to the back of his head, and I brought him down suddenly into a kiss. It took him awhile to respond, but when he did, I gave myself over to him. I surrendered and he surrendered and finally felt the heaven I wanted break over me. I savored each second, loosing count in my head.

I felt James smile against my lips, and he lifted me up, spinning me in a quick circle. I broke the kiss and laughed as he set me down.

"Happy new year," I whispered into his mouth, letting him stare into my eyes with that look that I finally understood.

"Happy new year," he whispered back, didn't even question what was happening, and then kissed me until I could feel the morning light wash over us.

* * *

You know you want to review after a scene like _that. _You know it...

So, I only have the next chapter written and then I actually have to write and post after I'm done. Because I've been procrastinating. So if the next chapter isn't up next weekend, you all can send me angry e-mails. That's what I get for writing spin-offs that I'll never post...sigh

Review...please? You guys are awesome...


	13. A New Outlook

Chapter 13.

This is actually the last chapter I have written. But there's still 3 more chapters after this.

And while you're reading, try to find how many Spring Awakening references I have thrown in here. I know for a fact there's two songs from it, two characters based off characters in the musical, and a couple word references.

* * *

I leaned against the windowsill, staring out at the cool spring day. Green buds littered the trees' branches, animals scurried around on the ground, and birds sang from their random perched spots. Flowers bloomed, vibrant colors were showing their brilliance, and the air felt soft, breezy, comforting.

Spring had arrived.

I felt as though I had been awakening from the deep sleep that was the winter. I stretched, enjoying the rays of sunlight streaming through the window.

I checked the time to see that I had slept in and was running a bit late. Great. I sighed out loud, and noticed that there was absolutely no one else in the room with me. No one in the bathroom, in their beds, in the room. I really _was_ running late.

Hurriedly, I rushed into the bathroom and got ready in record time, skipping down the staircase while trying to get my other sock and shoe on. Why did I have to be running late on a _Friday_? Last day of the week. It was the worse time to get to breakfast late.

I rounded the corner of the corridor as fast as I could and adjusted my bookbag on the shoulder. Only two more corridors and I would be there. Maybe I would have five minutes for breakfast. As long as I kept at this pace.

I rounded the last corner to get pulled the other way.

"I need to-" I started to explain before even looking at who it was that pulled me away or why they did.

The immediate kiss that followed told me who it was though.

I forgot about my predicament and kissed back with a fervor. He pulled away first, one of his arms wrapped around my waist, bringing me closer. "Missed breakfast?" he whispered in a breath. I opened my eyes to see him grinning at me, eyes soft and full of laughter.

"Not my fault," I explained, rolling my eyes. Well, actually it was, but I didn't dare admit that out loud.

"That's why I brought you breakfast."

And, lo behold, there was a stack of toast in his other hand. I grinned at him, pulling back. "Wow, toast. Such a thoughtful gift."

He smiled smugly. "Thought so." I took the toast from him but ended up smothered in another kiss. So much for breakfast.

"Now, here's an interesting stop on our tour of public affection in the corridors. Let's examine James Potter and Lily Evans. Everyone, line up behind me. This is _tour_ people."

"Shut up Sirius," James growled, breaking off our kiss.

I turned to look at him exasperatedly. Standing beside him (and not in a line, thank god) were Remus, Peter, Ellyn, Kady, and some random students that looked to be in about 1st year. Great.

"Aggravated by my commentary, they break apart."

"You know words like aggravated?" Remus questioned, turning to look at Sirius with a surprised look, "Since when?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Since forever._ Anyway_, they break apart and we ask ourselves, what's their next move?"

"Killing you?" I muttered, sending a glare his way.

"She will too," James agreed, holding back a smile.

Sirius just smirked. "Lily says her next move is killing me, but I doubt it because I'm Sirius Black, and if I died, the whole female population will be devastated and chaos will occur, and I'm pretty sure Lily doesn't want that."

All of us girls exchanged dubious glances. "Right," I said, shaking my head. I broke off a piece of my toast and ate it slowly as I watched James started talking to Sirius about how he's annoying at the wrong times.

"Then every time is annoying," Ellyn announced, "Because he's _always _annoying."

I grinned at that comment. Sirius just continued his smirk, not even faltering.

I turned my attention to the 1st years, who were staring up at us with innocent and curious faces. I raised an eyebrow at them and they continued to stare up at me.

"Ow!"

A girl was inching away from one of the boys. I watched with curiosity and she looked at him with tear-filled eyes.

And he did it again. Reached out and pulled one of her brown pigtails.

"Hey!" I interrupted, getting down bending down to be face-to-face with the boy, "Don't pull her pigtails. It's not nice."

The boy scuffed his toe on the floor. "Sorry." I looked away for a second and started to get up before I heard it again. Another soft 'ow'.

I was about to yell at the child again before James bent down next to me. "What's your name?" he asked the boy, speaking in soft tones.

"Morey," the boy said, quietly as if he were ashamed to talk to us.

"And what's your name?" James looked to the girl.

She blinked, and pulled shyly at her pigtails. "Ilse."

"Now, Morey, what good will come out of pulling on Ilse's pigtails?" James asked, looking at the little boy.

"I dunno. I guess it's just fun to see what she does..." Morey muttered.

James smiled. "But maybe she doesn't like it. And how are you going to become friends with her if she doesn't like you?"

Morey made a face. "I don't want to be friends with a _girl_."

"Trust me," James exclaimed, "You will later. So maybe if you be nice to Ilse, you guys will become friends later in life and you won't have to convince her to stop hating you."

I chuckled softly. This didn't sound familiar _at all_. "And Ilse," I whispered to the girl, "No matter how much this boy teases you, don't think it's because he hates you. It maybe be the opposite."

She looked up at me, eyes wide. She slowly nodded.

"Have we come to an understanding?" James asked.

Morey nodded with a frown. "I won't bug her," he muttered under his breath.

"Promise?"

"Yes."

I smiled and stood up to a upright position. "Now, you'd better get to class."

The group of 1st years scurried away; Morey in the front, running off to his next class, and Ilse in the back, walking unsurely to her next class. It had to be the cutest thing I've seen in awhile, even though it was weird to admit.

"McGonagall's going to kill us," Kady said, checking the time.

Late again. "Let's gooooo!" Sirius shouted, pointing down the hallway.

Nobody said anything to his randomness, as we began to walk down the corridor to our first class of the day. Sirius skipped ahead, singing some tune again. Like his "got a date" tune but different. "Hmm...hmmm...hmmm!" Sirius hummed, dancing to himself.

We scooted away and tried to not look at him. ""TOUCH ME!" Sirius suddenly shouted out loud to an unrecognizable tune. We all jumped at the yell, and looked over to see Ellyn caught in the line of fire.

"...What?" Ellyn asked, trying to inch away from him.

"JUST LIKE THAT!" He grabbed onto Ellyn, singing the random song to her as she looked to us for help. "AND THAT, OH YEAH, NOW THAT'S HEAVEN!"

"You're scaring me," Ellyn said rationally, lifting Sirius's hand off her shoulder and walking away from us.

But that didn't stop Sirius from continuing to sing in her direction. "NOW THAT I LIKE!"

"I'm not doing anything," Ellyn pointed out, looking confused and a bit frightened at the random outburst of song.

Sirius sang louder. "GOD THAT'S SO NICE!"

"What the hell is nice?" Ellyn asked in frustration.

"NOW LOWER DOWN WHERE THE FIGS LIE!" Sirius finished, ending with jazz hands.

I swear you probably could hear crickets chirping. "Okay, I'm leaving..." Ellyn reasoned, grabbing her bag and heading the other way.

"Hey, we have class this way!" I shouted after her.

She just waved me off. Great.

I turned back around to see Sirius grinning. "I love that song."

We all just stared at him in confusion and freaked-out-ness.

* * *

"Have you been out here all day?" I asked Ellyn, who was sitting by the oak tree.

The first day of spring was perfect. Light wind, warm temperature, relaxing atmosphere. It was perfect day to relax outside and take a breather. After class, I noticed the doors were open to the outside and had to take a venture. And then I saw Ellyn, sitting by the oak tree, writing.

Ellyn shrugged. "It's nice out, don't you think?"

I sat down on the other side of the tree, stretching out my legs. "Yeah. But you really shouldn't miss class. It's almost NEWT time."  
"Have you ever thought about what will happen after school?"

I glanced Ellyn's way and then out at the lake. "Not really."

"That this is only a portion of our lives? And next year we'll be out in the real world with the war and everything? And all we're doing in sitting here in school going about our little merry ways not even worrying about it?"

I frowned. "And NEWTS won't really matter."

Ellyn only made a sound of agreement in response.

"But they do," I continued, "Because we need them to go out and get a job in the world. To help with the war. To be an auror, a healer, a someone."

A soft wind blew, blowing through the grass. "I don't want to act like a child anymore. I want to do something."

She was serious. "We will."

Ellyn turned around to look at me and I turned around also. "I want to be an auror," she whispered.

I held her gaze seriously. "I do too."

And we fell into a silence. But it wasn't uncomfortable. It was a thoughtful, content silence.

"There you are!" I looked up to see James walking over to us, quickly followed by everyone.

I smiled at them. "Hey," I said softly.

"Today would be a perfect day for a story!" Sirius said, sitting down next to James who was next to me.

"You want to _read_?" James asked, a disbelieving smile crossing his face.

Sirius shook his head. "A spoken story! Does anyone know any?"

A spoken story. Not any I knew of came to mind. "Okay. I think I have one. But it's also a poem," Ellyn announced from the other side of the tree. "There once was a pirate who put out to sea. His mates all around him, no maiden on his knee. Sail for a little, a little, little, little. Sail for a little, until she finds him."

"Who is she?" Sirius interrupted.

Ellyn sighed. "I was getting to that. Anyway, there once a maiden who wandered the mead. To gather blue violets her mama would need. Wail through the willows. All hollow through the willows. She'll wail through the willows till she finds him."

"I don't get it," Sirius whined, "What is a 'mead'?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "A mead is a field, Sirius."

"Great, can I go on now?" Ellyn asked. Everyone muttered an affirmative response. "The sea was so violent. The crew and below. They begged him to join them but he would not go. Oh, sail a little, little, for just a little, little. Sail for a little till she finds-"

"Okay!" Sirius shouted.

Well, I saw that coming.

"God, Sirius, just let me finish and then you can complain and ask questions, okay?" Ellyn asked, frustration evident in her voice. "Her heart was so laden. She fell by a tree and sang about some pirate who haunted the sea. Wail through the willows, all hollow through the willows. She'll wail through the willows till she finds him." There was a bit of silence. "I'm done. Complain away."

"Right," Sirius spoke up loudly, "Now, why is she looking for him? Why is she getting flowers? Why didn't they just say field instead of mead? And why did it keep repeating words?"

"Didn't like my poem, did you?" Ellyn asked almost darkly.

Sirius's face lightened up almost immediately. "Really? You wrote that? It was awesome," he exclaimed as quick as he could.

James stifled a laugh, Remus rolled his eyes, and Kady, Ellyn, and I looked at each other with exasperated faces.

"You write?" James turned around and asked Ellyn after the commotion calmed down.

"A little," Ellyn admitted with a shrug, transferring her book into the other hand.

I saw Sirius eye it and before I could warn Ellyn, he had grabbed it from her hand, and stood up quickly, walking away.

"Hey!" Ellyn shouted after him, getting up to chase after him, but Sirius was already opening the book and reading.

"'She stopped to look at him closely...'" Sirius read out loud, holding the book out of Ellyn's reach. It reminded him of when Ellyn took Sirius's list, but he already had her book. "'If only she knew what he was thinking. Was he thinking what she was?'"

"Sirius Black!" she screamed at him, jumping up to grab her book.

But he still held it higher, reading upward. "'Did he want this too?' Ooo..." Sirius looked down again at Ellyn. "That's kinky, Hatcher." He looked back to the words. "'Or was she just imagining things'?"

"Stop reading!" Ellyn shouted, pulling at the end of the book she caught, but Sirius ignored her.

"Where's the good parts? You know, the sexy scenes?" He flipped through a couple pages and stopped. "This looks good. 'She couldn't breathe. Because there-"

Ellyn growled and stepped as hard as she could on Sirius's foot. He dropped the book almost immediately and shouted in pain, hopping on one foot. Ellyn brushed off her book that lay on the ground and walked calmly away. Sirius resorted to sitting on the grass whining about his foot.

Times like this I thought of a snapshot. Just to take a picture and keep everything the way it was at that moment. But time goes on.

* * *

It hit me as I stood out by the bank of the lake. Watching the calm of the lake water, and how it could be disturbed by a single pebble thrown into the deep dark waters. I wasn't a student anymore. I was an adult. I was part of the world now.

Graduation never seemed this glum seven years ago.

"Hey," I heard James voice carry from behind me. I turned around and gave him a smile as he strode up and stopped next to me. "What are you doing?"

I smiled at his concern. "Just thinking about life."

His expression grew serious. "Life from now on?" His hands found mine and he slowly weaved my fingers through his. It was a comforting gesture.

"Yeah," I whispered, "With the war and everything, it just gets harder. And everything is now so dark, so serious."

James turned to look out at the dark lake. "Not everything has to be dark and serious. We can still find humor in everyday life," he said, and added as an afterthought, "especially Sirius." I chuckled at the joke, finding that I could breathe a little easier. "Want to go join the rest of the gang?"

I sighed and nodded. As we went slowly back to the castle, I confided in James, "You know, I'm actually sort of looking forward to life after graduation. It's another stage in our life."

James grinned. "I like it when you're optimistic."

I rolled my eyes at the sudden change of topic, but went with it anyway. "I know."

James laughed and quickly brought me to him, gently kissing me. Moments like this made me wonder why I had rejected him in the first place.

"Here you go." I stared at the orange party hat that was held out in front of me.

"Why are you giving me this, Remus?" I asked the person holding it out.

"Just put it on or Sirius won't let you in," Remus answered with a sigh, adjusting his own bright blue hat. "Oh, and James, here." Remus brought out a red hat for James. He grimaced at it before taking it from Remus by the string.

"We're not wearing these," James whispered to me as we passed Remus to get into the common room.

"Yep," I agreed, taking James's hat from him and throwing them to the side.

Inside the common room, Sirius had organized another party; the last one ever at Hogwarts for us. It was chaos; screaming, partying, drinking, running, dancing, and...standing. I could do the last one.

"Now, where...are...your-" I turned around to see Sirius staggering over to us. Looks like someone got into the firewhiskey again. He hiccuped. "Hats?"

James grinned. "You just told us that hats were out of style and we didn't have to wear them."

Sirius nodded. "Oh yeah."

I grinned at Sirius's drunkenness and searched the room for Ellyn and Kady. People, more people, people I don't know, crowds of people, crowd surfing, some slutty girl in corner making out with a random guy, people. But no people I knew that I was searching for.

"Hey Lily."

Robert behind me.

Wait. What?

I turned around and saw Robert Sharpe standing behind me. Ex-boyfriend Robert. Robert that I hadn't really talked to after New Year's. Robert, talking to me again on graduation day with James standing beside me.

This should be fun.

"Hi," I replied. Robert and James acknowledged each other the way guys do. The nod. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, I got invited to the party."

Duh Lily. You should have known that. I glanced to my left to see James looking uncomfortable. "You here with anyone?" I inquired quickly. A short but sweet conversation and then James and I could be on our way.

"Actually-" Robert began to say before I heard "LILY!".

I turned around quickly to see Jasmine running up to me. "I haven't seen you in forever!" She quickly pulled me into a hug in which I awkwardly hugged back. She released to me and grinned. "How are you? I heard things are great."

I nodded and looked behind me again. Robert stopped in mid sentence and James looking confused, but calm about all this.

It all clicked then.

"Are you two going out?" I asked Jasmine and Robert, with a sly smile.

Robert nodded as Jasmine answered "Two months".

Our exes getting together. Wow.

"That's amazing," I announced.

James nodded in agreement.

Uncomfortable silence time. We needed a distraction.

"There you are!" Kady Matlow, you are amazing. I breathed a sigh in relief and turned to face her. She ran up, slightly out of breath. "I have been looking everywhere for you."

"I've been looking for you too," I said.

Kady looked at our little group. "So, what's up?"

"Um, we're talking," I answered, as we all looked at each other.

"Ellyn's looking for you. Over there." Kady pointed through the random crowd of people dancing.

Saved by Ellyn. Thank god.

"Sorry to leave you all, but we must go and find Ellyn," I said politely to the group, and I grabbed James and pulled him out of there.

James left ahead of me and I was surprised when I felt a hand holding me back. I turned around and noticed it was Robert.

"You know," he started to say, "The reason I let you go was because I knew."

I frowned. "Knew what?"

Robert shrugged. "Knew that you and James were going to get together. I guess I was just waiting it out to see what happened."

He still went out with me and knew I liked James? That took courage. "Really?"

"Yeah."

I smiled at him and noticed James had left somewhere. "Thanks," I said softly, leaving with a nod and the same smile.

I found James standing next to the wall on the opposite side of the room. "Thank god," James breathed, "That was awkward."

"Yeah," I agreed, standing on my toes to see over the head of people. "See Ellyn?" I asked James, who was taller than me and could probably see over everyone.

"Prongs!" Out of nowhere, Sirius jumped out of the crowd and latched himself onto James.

James looked down at Sirius who was on his arm and then back at me with a horrified expression on his face. I immediately tried to stop laughing at the look on his face.

"Um, Sirius?" James questioned.

Sirius grinned crookedly. "Let's dance!"

And that was the last I saw of James until an hour later. Ellyn found me and we both watched the scene, amusingly. People later told me they saw Sirius trying to dance with James and it looked very...strange. Many people asked me if I was still with James because they had some questions. James told me to never speak of it again.

And it just made me laugh.

* * *

"I want a picture!" Kady thrust her camera into the nearest person's hands. The guy looked down at the camera and back up at us. He slowly moved out in front of us timidly.

"Um, scoot in, I guess," the random guy from Hufflepuff (why was he here?) said, waving his hand to signal us.

In the midst of the party, we all tried to group together to get into the picture. Sirius climbed over Peter's shoulders, making the poor boy struggle with the weight, and making Sirius taller than everyone else. Ellyn was trying to ignore the failing appendages as Sirius balanced himself on Peter's shoulders and Remus pulled Christine into the picture at the last minute. Kady was instructing the guy on how to take the picture and was planning on running in at the last minute.

James leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "And this is how we're going to remember everything?"

I laughed, trying to concentrate on what Kady was shouting on about. "The infamous graduation picture."

Kady ran back into the group, on the other side of Ellyn. "Everyone, do something!"

I raised my eyebrow at the camera and James stuck out his tongue. Sirius promptly fell over, taking Peter with him, in Ellyn and Kady's direction.

"Sirius!"

Everyone turned around to see Sirius, Peter, and Kady lying on the floor and Ellyn standing to the side looking down at them, shaking her head.

I grinned at the sight and everyone around me began to laugh except for Ellyn who looked at us like we were crazy. "This is what I have to put up with..." Ellyn muttered, turning to the camera and giving it a glare.

James pulled me to him and kissed my cheek softly. "Love you," he whispered in my ear as he pulled away.

The past months we had avoided those words and it was the first time he had ever said them out loud. I turned to look at him, heart beating fast. "I love you too."

And everything was right.

* * *

Send me angry e-mails if I don't update next week. Because if I don't update, that probably means I didn't write.

Oh, and if you think you may like Spring Awakening, I posted a blog on my myspace containing a Spring Awakening fanfiction.

And lately, you all have been amazing with reviews.

So, review again. Because I know you want to.


	14. An Offer

I wrote this week and I'm very proud of myself. So, here's chapter 14, third to last chapter.

* * *

"Benjy," I acknowledged the nervous guy next to me.

He nodded in my direction before running off to wherever he had to be next.

"Lily, we have a meeting in ten minutes!" I heard someone say behind me. I turned around to be greeted with the smiling face of Dorcas Meadows. No clue why she was smiling, but it really didn't bother me.

It had been a year since graduation. Life has been pretty hectic after school. Especially when the Order of the Phoenix came into play. Because we were training to be aurors, it seemed like a good step for us to take. We all signed up right away. To be on the front lines of the war was stressful, dangerous, but in a way, it was right for me. I felt as if I had to do something.

And I had all my friends right beside me. And James, of course.

Speak of the devil.

"Meeting in ten minutes," James exclaimed, appearing in front of me out of nowhere. He threw me an apple, also seemingly out of nowhere, and I caught it before it hit the ground.

"Thanks," I exclaimed, playing with the apple in my hand but waiting until later to eat it.

James grinned. "What are you doing tonight?"

I shrugged. "Probably going out with Benjy. Isn't that right, Benjy?" I turned around to see Benjy behind us, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Um...sure?" he answered, but almost as if it was a question.

"Nah, she's going out with me," I heard a voice behind me and felt a weight on my shoulder. I turned my head to see Sirius's arms and head resting there. "Now, don't make me fight with Benjy. You all know Lily's going with me."

James glared at Sirius. "I'm pretty sure that _we'll_ be doing something tonight."

"Ooo..._something_," Sirius joked, moving away from my shoulder and coming to the front so I could see him.

I rolled my eyes. "One, I'm your _best friend's _girlfriend. And two, don't be making sexual innuendo jokes in the workplace."

Sirius chuckled. "Riiight," he said slowly, walking away backwards as he said it.

James and I waited for him to leave and then turned to each other. "So, do you want to drop your, I'm guessing, double date tonight and instead go on a romantic rendezvous with moi?" James asked after he made sure Sirius was out of hearing and sight range.

"I'm not sure," I joked, making it look like I was thinking it over, "What do you have that they don't?"

James grinned. "I think you know," he whispered, bringing me into a slow kiss.

"Hate to say it, you know, but a lot of people don't like PDA in the workplace," a voice said loudly from across the room. Ellyn.

"AND SEXUAL INNUENDOS!" I heard Sirius say from the other room.

I broke off the kiss, sighing at the interruption. "That's good to know!" I said back, not even turning around.

"Tonight, seven?" James asked quickly, probably in fear of being interrupted again.

"Of course," I responded.

He looked left and right, and then brought me into a short and soft kiss. "Hey, we didn't get caught this time," he said laughingly.

"JAMESSSSSSS!"

"But we still get interrupted," I commented with a smile, turning to the sound of the yell; Sirius again.

"It's lunch time. And it's my turn to get lunch!" Sirius announced.

We both stared at him. "And?" I said.

"James is coming with me! Aren't you, James?" Sirius started with some freaky frantic nodding.

James looked confused for a second, and then he nodded. "Oh! Oh yeah, I have to go with you to get lunch! Yeah."

I swear those two are going crazy together. It was only lunch. "Okay, well, have a nice time?" I tried, completely confused at their behavior.

"See you in a bit," James said, being dragged off by Sirius.

"Well, they're up to something," Ellyn commented, arms crossed, staring in the same direction they had left.

Where did she come from? I side-glanced at her, and then thought about what she said. 'Up to something'. Immediately, I suspected the worst. "Like...bad something?" I asked shakily.

"Stop thinking the worst. It's not a bad thing they're up to," Ellyn answered.

I turned to look at her. "How do you know?"

Ellyn grinned. "Because I know what they are really up to."

How come she got to know and I didn't? "Who told you?"

"No one. I just know," Ellyn said, and then looked at everywhere watching the scene. "Let's go somewhere private and I'll tell you the rest."

Confused, I followed Ellyn into the next room, that was conveniently devoid of people. "Are you telling her?" a voice came from the doorway.

I looked to find Kady peering in, interested. "Does everyone know something I don't?" I asked angrily.

Kady came shuffling in and pulled up the closest chair. "It's so obvious," Kady squealed. Yes, squealed.

I sat down in the chair next to Kady and Ellyn sat in the one on the other side of me. "Don't freak out, okay?" Ellyn exclaimed.

It would better if I knew what they were talking about. "Um, okay?"

Kady leaned forward excitedly. "Let me start slow, okay?"

This sounded like bad news. "It _is_ bad news, isn't it?" If James was cheating on me or doing something of the sort, I'd _kill_ him.

"Would Kady be this happy if it was bad news?" Ellyn questioned, gesturing to the girl practically bouncing up and down in her seat.

"If...she secretly wanted James this whole time, then yes..." I concluded slowly.

Ellyn rolled her eyes. "Nice."

"_Anyway_," Kady spoke up again, ignoring the last comment, "Check this out." Kady brought out a magazine (Witch Weekly?) that she was hiding.

Taking it from her, I noticed it was Witch Weekly and that there was a page marked. Looking briefly up at Kady, I turned to the page and read the headline "Every five seconds a girl gets engaged (according to our latest survey). Every five seconds you'll get one more chance to make him get down on his knee and...PROPOSE. How to make yourself desirable on page 103."

Oh. My. God.

"What?" I said the only word that would come out.

Kady nodded frantically. "Yep."

"Eh?" I tried. That sounded Canadian.

Ellyn sat back in her chair. "Exactly."

"And?"

How come I couldn't form a sentence? How come my mouth was suddenly dry and I needed a glass of water? How come I didn't see this coming? How come this was happening...now...at this moment...right now?

"We saw it coming for awhile now. We were waiting for the right time to tell you but when Ellyn saw James ask you out tonight and then him and Sirius acting all weird, we knew we had to tell you today or it would be too late," Kady explained.

"You saw it coming?" I asked, still staring at the magazine in shock.

"It's actually obvious," Ellyn said, shrugging.

I looked up to see Kady grinning. "He's going to pop the question!" she sing-songed.

Wide-eyed, I looked over at Ellyn. She nodded. "Pop," she repeated, but in more of a monotone than Kady.

"How can you know?" I found myself asking. "What if it's...something...else?"

Ellyn sighed. "He's not going to break up with you. He's mad about you. If he's jumpy, it can only be one thing. There's absolutely no reason to stop and question his love."

She was right.

They were both right.

"Oh my god!" I yelled suddenly, a grin replacing my former confused expression.

"I know! Oh my god!" Kady repeated, standing up and jumping up and down.

I didn't even care how stupid it looked. I stood up and joined in.  
"I'm going to stay here, thanks," Ellyn said, looking up at us.

"I'm going to cry!" Kady exclaimed, "You're the first! You're going to get married!"

Oh my god. Married. To James Potter.

This was a big change.

* * *

"I think James will suspect something if he sees you two here getting me ready," I commented, sitting on my bed, reading that article in Witch Weekly. 

Kady peeked out from the depths of my walk-in closet. "It's not like he won't know you suspect something anyway."

"But I didn't. Until you told me," I proclaimed, raising an eyebrow.

Ellyn came out of the closet carrying my shoe rack. "Who cares? If we have to, we'll hide." She put the shoe rack in front of me. "When we pick out a dress, you pick out the shoes."

I stood up. "Can't I pick the dress?"

Kady appeared out of the darkness of the closet again. I walked over and flipped on the light switch, flooding the dark closet with light. "Hey, thanks," Kady said, looking up at the light and then back down at me, "And no. It has to a dress that says something. Says that this isn't any normal date. But it can't look like you know and you're waiting for it, all desperate, right? So, we have to find the perfect dress."

Well, that didn't really make any sense. "Oh-kay," I said slowly, going back over to sit on my bed.

I only heard snippets of what they were saying in there. "That clashes!", "That is the worst color!", "That just says you're desperate", "This...is just weird looking." Soon, I had a pile of my clothes lying in the middle of my room. I continued to just read and try to ignore what they were saying about my wardrobe.

"Hey, look, a little black dress." Kady came out, holding one of my dresses to herself. "This is cute."

"It doesn't say 'something special'," Ellyn said from inside my closet.

Kady frowned, going back in my closet. "Give me a color," I heard.

Looking up from the article ("Live off lean cuisine, conceal your flaws with make-up, be minty fresh"), I answered, "Um, gray?"

"Gray? What's wrong with you?"

I smiled at her response. "Okay, then, purple?"

There was a short pause, and then, "Do you have anything purple?"

"Probably not."

There was a sigh inside my closet. The random bickering continued, and I went back to reading. The article was strange to say the least. The things they listed to make "your future husband" propose seemed preposterous. Lose five pounds, wear bright colors, talk about fun places, mention how much you like diamonds. Wow.

"Look at this."

I looked up to see Ellyn holding a dress I got a year ago from my mother. It was a lavender floor-length strap-less dress with white lace. I had never worn it, but why not? It took a moment for me to remember, but then I remembered what I told myself when I received it. I was waiting to use it for a special occasion. This worked out perfectly.

"It's perfect," I said softly, standing up to look more closely at the dress.

Now all I had to worry about was getting through the night without freaking. That couldn't be too hard – could it?

"What if he really isn't proposing?" I asked worriedly, standing in the middle of my living room.

"He's proposing," Ellyn and Kady said in unison.

I fiddled with the lace on my dress. "But...what if he's not?" I hate worrying. And denial. And only thinking the worst.

Kady turned to a page in the issue of Witch Weekly and ripped it out. Handing the page to me, she said, "There is a list of things a guy will do if he really is proposing. According to Witch Weekly."

I folded the page, putting it in my purse. "What if _they're_ wrong?" I continued to question.

"Then they're wrong," Ellyn concluded.

The door bell rang and I jumped out of surprise. Ellyn and Kady quickly walked into my kitchen that was hidden from my living room. "Good luck," they whispered before leaving.

Oh god.

I walked over to the front door, taking the cold doorknob in my hand shakily. I turned it jerkily, opening the door slowly.

"Hey." He was dressed up nice; dark slacks, shirt, dress coat. His hair even looked like he was tamed; or tried to be at least.

"Hey," I smiled back.

We walked out the door, and I took a quick look back to see Ellyn and Kady peeking out of the door, mouthing things I couldn't even tell. Turning my attention back to James, I smiled at him again. "So, where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," James just said with a mysterious grin.

"How are we getting there?" I was trying to pry some information out of him.

James continued to grin. "By walking."

I glanced at him, confused. "Why walking?"

"It's close enough and it's a lovely night tonight."

I just looked at him. He _was_ planning something. The look on his face said it all. James noticed me staring at him. "I know I'm nice to look at and all, but-"

I proceeded to hit him. "Shut up. I was thinking about something," I said, and then added quickly, "not you."

"You _are_ having an affair with Sirius...or Benjy...or even both," James gasped.

I just grinned. "You know it."

James took my hand in his as he tried to keep a straight face. "You astound me."

"I hope that's a good thing," I commented back.

"A very good thing." With a kiss on the cheek, we continued on our way.

_1. Your guy will take you someplace special._

"Oh my god," I breathed, stopping in front of the restaurant.

"I asked around. Found out this was your favorite restaurant as a kid," James explained, with his smile.

I stared up at the neon blue sign flashing, "The Blue Mirror". I hadn't been to this restaurant since I was ten. My whole family used to come here together every weekend. I used to always get the same thing: chicken fingers with chocolate icecream as dessert.

"You're amazing," I smiled, bringing him down into a short kiss.

James led me inside. After we walked through the front door, I looked around and noticed nothing had really changed. It was almost the same as I remembered it as a child. I felt at home again and it was a comforting feeling.

_2. Your guy will get you the best table in the restaurant_.

"Mister Potter, right this way," the waiter (who reminded me of Ringo from the Beatles) exclaimed, leading us to the front of the restaurant.

He stopped in front of a table, middle front of the restaurant, right by the window with the most amazing view of the stars. James pulled out my chair for me and thanked him, sitting down. James sat across from me, and then looked up at the waiter.

"Anything to drink?" the waiter asked.

"Just water," I replied.

"Me too, thanks," James said after me.

"Wonderful. By the way, my name is Michael and if you need assistance with anything, just ask," the waiter said, walking away from where he came.

_3. Your guy will make pleasant conversation and hint at the "future"._

"This is really nice, James," I said softly.

"You deserve it," James exclaimed.

I smiled, thinking about what Ellyn and Kady had said. Was he really going to propose tonight? He was making this night perfect. It had to be a proposal. It had to.

"Ever wonder what we will be doing in five years?" James asked suddenly.

I looked at him and gave him a weird look. "Well, you know, I'm planning on having twenty cats and being known as the cat lady," I joked.

James grinned. "I hope not. The cats will probably end up being more of a priority than me."

"Well, someone has to take care of them," I said, shrugging.

James rolled his eyes. "Right," he announced sarcastically.

_4. As time gets closer to the proposal, your guy will become more nervous._

Finishing my chocolate icecream (it was just as good as I remembered), I put down my spoon and looked back over at James. He was leaning on his hand, just watching me eat.

"Good?" he asked.

I smiled. "Just like I remembered."

He smiled back, almost nervously. "Hey, Lil, honestly, where do you see yourself in five years?"  
I shrugged; heart beating fast. "I'm not sure. I'm just trying to live each day to its fullest. Seldom do I look into the future." Until recently.

James sighed. "Really?"

"Yeah."

_5. You will just know. _

I wrung my hands nervously under the table. James was never nervous. It had it-it was-oh my god.

"Remember that day after exams in third year?" James asked, out of nowhere. I looked up at him, wracking my brain for what had happened that day. Oh yeah.

"That was the day you practically attacked me out by the quidditch field," I responded, remembering so fondly that day.

"And I kept telling you that we were going to get married and live happily ever after."

"And I told you to get lost."

"And I said that one day I propose to you."

"You did," I found myself whispering.

There could be only one reason why he brought this up.

"I meant it." James caught my gaze and I couldn't tear away from the hazel depths. He stood up slowly, walking around the table to my side. "I knew then that you would be the girl I would fall for, love, and one day, get to say she's my wife."

His stare was so intense. I stared back, reminding myself to breathe, to breathe, to breathe. To not cry. Oh, god, I wasn't going to cry.

He got on one knee slowly, fumbling with something in his pocket. He brought out a red velvet box, opening it to reveal the most beautiful diamond ring I'd ever seen in my life. James took a breath and said, clearly, "Lily Evans, keeper of my heart, love of my life, will you marry me?"

Breathe.

I couldn't breathe.

Tears.

Tears welled up in my eyes, making my vision blurry.

But I could still see James there, on one knee, asking me to live the rest of my life with _him_. Just _him. _My happily ever after.

His stare held everything I wanted. Trust, security, love...

"Yes." It came out no more than a choked whisper. "Of course," I tried again, stronger.

He didn't even wait until he was standing up to pull me into the sweetest kiss I've got felt. I grinned against his lips, vaguely aware of the whole restaurant applauding, thinking that forevermore, I was his and he was mine. James finally pulled away, slipping the ring onto my ring finger (that was now occupied, oh my god) and interlacing my fingers with his. "You know," he said, grinning, "This means you can't be cat lady."

"I know," I laughed, before kissing him again.

* * *

"Bets saying that Ellyn and Kady are still in my house." 

"I bet that Sirius and Remus are also there."

We stood in front of my house, waiting to go in. I gave James a strange look. "Why would Sirius and Remus be in my house?"

"I bet they're all conspiring together," James explained, "So, they'll be there too."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Positive." James nodded. "Now, let's see." I put my key into the lock and opened the door as quietly as possible.

"I win," James whispered after we got a good look inside without being noticed.

Remus was sitting very unsure on my floor, while Kady sat behind him on the couch, putting what looked like a pony tail in Remus's hair. I almost laughed out loud at that sight.

Ellyn was sitting on the other side of my couch, watching Sirius's back, since he was sitting right in front of the television, which he seemed entranced with. Moving to the side, I could see that they were watching the television series of Superman, probably since a new adaption was just released in theaters.

"I didn't know muggles were _this_ cool," Sirius commented, his eyes darting back and forth during a fight scene.

Ellyn was the first to notice. "Lily! James!" she said loudly, getting everyone else's attention.

"Oh my god, Lily!" Kady stood up quickly, accidentally pulling on Remus's hair ("ow!"). "So, how was your date?" The whole group walked over, the eagerness definitely showing on their faces.

"Nice," I commented calmly.

"Yeah," James agreed, just as calm.

"Left hand, please," Ellyn said, trying to hold back her smile.

I looked to James who shrugged, and then held out my left hand.

"Oh my god!" Kady screamed, and I began to wonder how many times 'oh my god' was used today.

"Oh my god, you guys," I joked, making everyone laugh.

Kady and Ellyn inspected my ring while Sirius and Remus gave James claps on the back. (I don't understand that, never will, I guess.) "Congratulations!" Ellyn said suddenly, "Now, have you started-"

"You're maid of honor. Don't worry," I said before she finished.

Ellyn nodded. "Okay, when are you planning it?"

I turned my attention on James, who said, "Well, since the war is going on and everything, everyone is getting married as soon as possible, so maybe this...spring?"

I nodded in agreement and turned back to Ellyn to see her frown. "What?" I asked.

"Dumbledore is sending me Italy for a mission," Ellyn said softly, "I'm leaving next week and I won't be coming back for, approximately, a year."

My eyes widened in shock. "A whole year?"

Ellyn nodded, shrugging. "So, I guess if you want to give Kady maid of honor and-"

"You're not missing my wedding, Ellyn," I interrupted her yet again.

James nodded in agreement. "You have to be there."

I noticed everyone had stopped freaking out about my ring and engagement and instead became focused on having Ellyn at my wedding. Because, really, if she wasn't there, it just wouldn't be...right.

"We'll move it," I decided.

"To when?" Ellyn asked.

"Next winter. A year from now," James said, and I nodded to agree with him.

Ellyn frowned. "I can't do this to you. Everyone's getting married early and all and this is just imposing."

"You're part of the family. Date's set," I announced.

Ellyn chuckled, looking at us with a grin. "I love you guys."

I pulled her into a hug, and said, "Come back in a year," I exclaimed, and then on second thought, added, "And without any tattoos please."

Ellyn pulled away, looking offended. "Why is it because I'm leaving by myself, everyone thinks I'm going to go off and get tattooed and pierced?"

"Because you will," everyone said in unison.

James found my hand and held it lightly and it hit me.

I was engaged to James Potter.

I was getting married in a year.

Even with a war raging on, I felt as though nothing could be better.

* * *

Chapter 15 will be up in 2 weeks (I have musical now, so it'll be hard to find time to write...). 

Until then, review? Please?


	15. A Return

Okay, so I lied. Instead of this story being 16 chapters, it's now 17. Because this chapter was too long so I split it into two. And now you get it a week early because I didn't have to write a 38228736423 word chapter.

* * *

Shutting the door behind me, I set down my bag and heaved a huge sigh. Another week straight of Order work. I knew it would be worth it in the long run, but it also wore me out every time. I only had one day left this week and then I had a vacation day. Finally.

And with the wedding this month, but still no set date since Ellyn wasn't back yet. It had been a year...and eight days. Not that I was counting or anything. Ellyn said she would be coming back in a year. We were past a year now. Something had to be wrong with Ellyn.

No. Must think positive.

Still though, the wedding preparations were all set. All we needed was the maid of honor. It was so stressful.

And then adding the fact that-

"Hey! Stop daydreaming over there and come say hi."

What?

Wait. I knew that voice.

"Ellyn!" I rounded the corner into the next room to see Ellyn sitting in a chair at a table, angled just so I knew she was spying on me. But that's definitely not the first thing I noticed. "You're safe! And you...look so different."

Despite our warnings we left her with, she still got her nose pierced. And who knows what else. Her hair was longer, cut, and colored.

Ellyn grinned. "I was going to cut my hair but I decided against it and let it grow out instead."

"And how many piercings do you actually have?" I joked, laughing, and then as it came to me, I added, "And where's your tattoos?"

Ellyn shrugged as if it wasn't such a big deal, but the grin stayed on her face. "Two piercings, one tattoo."

I almost asked her to go into detail, but then realized that wasn't the most important thing to talk about. I took the seat across from her and sighed in relief. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"How have you been holding up over here?"

I shrugged. "It's been okay. Marlene was attacked last month."

Ellyn frowned. "I heard."

There was a few seconds of silence, and then I said, "How was it over in Italy?"

"It was fine," Ellyn explained, "Basically my job was working undercover and not right on the war front so I really wasn't in any immediate danger. And I had a lot of free time but still had to lay low."

"Hey, Lil, we need to-" I turned around to meet the eyes of my fiancé. His gaze immediately went to Ellyn next to me. "Ellyn!" he almost yelled, taken completely by surprise.

"Surprise." She laughed at his actions.

James took the seat on the other side of me. "When did you get here?" he asked, leaning forward.

"Just now actually," Ellyn answered, "You guys need to start planning now that I'm back. The wedding is this month, isn't it?"

I smiled. "Yeah, I was actually just worried you weren't going to be back in time. We already told everyone to plan on next weekend."

"Married in a week," Ellyn announced, "How time flies."

James laughed and smiled at me. "Oh, and what happened to no piercings?" he asked, turning back to Ellyn.

Ellyn just shook her head and looked to me. "Want to come with me as I go around and shock people as they realize I'm back?"

"In other words, tell everyone how much you missed them?"

Ellyn gave me a look. "I'm not planning on going that mushy on everyone."

James just shook his head at our actions. "Right then. I'll just go pretend I know nothing."

Ellyn and I got up and started walking down the hallway to the main room. "It's early. I don't know how many people are here yet," I explained as he walked down the deserted hallway.

"Ellyn!" I turned around quickly to see Kady rushing up to us, flailing about. She practically attacked Ellyn as she got to us, enveloping her in a huge hug. "It's been too long! How are you? It's been different without you here!" Kady rambled on and on as Ellyn tried to fast to the fast words coming out of Kady's mouth.

"Welcome back, Ellyn," Remus said, turning the corner into the hallway we were in.

"Thanks, Remus," she said, smiling at him.

Kady basically grabbed Ellyn and got her attention again. "So, how was Italy? Did you meet any cute Italian boys? With accents? Did they speak Italian? I like accents..." As Kady went on and on, I noticed that Ellyn just decided to nod at everything she was saying.

I slowly lead Ellyn away from Kady, who kept on talking, and lead her through the next couple rooms, meeting people like Dorcas and Benjy and the others.

"So, is that everybody?" I asked absentmindedly, going back out into the hallway.

I swear as soon as I said that, a late Sirius Black walked through the front door, intent on only getting to the main room where everyone was meeting. He closed the door behind him quickly and proceeded to walk by us without a second glance.

"Hey, Sirius," Ellyn said nonchalantly.

I turned around to watch Sirius walk past, and then stop. He turned around in confusion and walked back to where we were standing. There was a short pause where he didn't say anything. Ellyn just crossed her arms, staring back at him with an eyebrow raised.

Out of nowhere, Sirius shouted, "El! You're back!" And then, it looked like to me, attacked her. In a hug. Ellyn looked to me for help as Sirius practically crushed her.

"Aren't we late for a meeting or something?" Ellyn said, trying to get out of the hug.

"You're better than a meeting," Sirius said, then added with a smirk, "And we can come up with some clever ideas to why we were late."

Ellyn looked to me pleadingly. I just shrugged in response. Who was I to get in the middle of Sirius...and...Sirius's sexual innuendo jokes?

Sirius finally let go of her and Ellyn sighed in relief. "Thank god."

Sirius didn't seem fazed one bit. "You know you missed me. Even in the tiniest little..." Ellyn frowned. "-minuscule-" And shook her head. "-very small..." She gave him a look. "-little little little bit. You know you did." Sirius finished with a nod.

Ellyn frowned. "Cause everyone needs someone annoying them everyday," she said sarcastically.

Sirius grinned. "Exactly!" He nodded at her, as if in approval. "Like the new look, by the way. Spin around for me." Ellyn gave him another look and crossed her arms again. Sirius just continued his grin. "You got a tattoo, didn't you?"

"Why do you say that?"

Sirius shrugged. "Because I know you would if you got the chance. And, since you got your nose pierced, I know you got the chance."

Ellyn just stared back at him. "What if I did?"

"I'm not complaining. Actually, I think it's pretty hot." Ellyn continued to give him that look, making Sirius continue with a grin. "Well, it kind of depends where the tattoo is. So, where's your's?"

I watched this scene unfold in front of me with the utmost curiosity. It really was a spectacle to watch these two talk back and forth.

"Why would I tell you?"

Sirius nodded in recognization. "Somewhere that isn't usually noticeable," he concluded.

Ellyn huffed. "How did you get that from my question?"

Sirius just continued. "Somewhere more private. Interesting."

"You are being annoying, Sirius," Ellyn tried to say calmly.

It looked as if a light bulb light up over Sirius's head. He suddenly smiled out of nowhere and leaned forward. In an accentuated whisper, he said, "It's on your ass, isn't it?"

Ellyn raised an eyebrow at him. "Wouldn't you like to know," she whispered back.

"Actually, I would," Sirius retorted, with a Sirius signature look.

"In your dreams." Ellyn grinned and turned away, focusing her attention back on me. "Let's go to the meeting."

"That's true," Sirius said after us, "It does happen a lot in my dreams." I tried to keep a straight face as Ellyn tried to stay calm and ignore him. "Can I see it?" he asked, following us.

Ellyn just turned around and gave him a look that said "no way in hell".

"I just want to see your ass!" I bit my lip from laughing at the random out burst as Ellyn shook her head in disbelief, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. "I'm not kidding! I want to see it!"

And he repeatedly told us how he wanted to see it all the way to the meeting.

* * *

"Just a little peek!" 

"Shut up," was the only response he received.

We all walked into the room where the meeting already was underway. "Sorry," Sirius immediately spoke up, "Ellyn and I were just _catching up_."

Everyone turned with a look to Ellyn. "It's not what you think," she muttered darkly, sitting in the nearest chair. I sat next to her which was next to James, and Sirius took the seat next to him.

I watched Dumbledore stand up from his seat and clear his throat. "Now, as many of you have already noticed, Ellyn Hatcher is back from Italy." Everyone clapped out of habit for some good news in this time. "And now to move to the more sinister news. I suspect that another attack will take place soon. I'm not saying this month, or the next, but somewhere in this time span. We need to get ready for the attack. We need to be ready when the time comes. We can't afford to lose enough of us. Stay safe. Stay with the group. Get ready."

Dumbledore looked to each of our faces, stopping on a few, catching their eye. "On a happier note, yesterday, I bought this new muggle type of candy. I think they're called lemon drops..."

Being used to Dumbledore's randomness, I turned my attention back to what everyone else was doing. Some people were listening about lemon drops, some were half asleep, some started talking to the person next to them, and some just were out of it.

I watched as Sirius leaned forward over the table and tried to get Ellyn's attention. I knew she knew that he was doing this, but she was ignoring him anyway.

"El, all I want to do is see it!" Sirius continued on his little ramble.

James looked to me, confused. "'It'?" he asked and I noticed the fear of the unknown in his voice.

"Her tattoo," I explained in two words.

"Lemon drops are also called sherbet lemon over here," Dumbledore continued to explain to the only person that was listening: Peter. "That's because we have sherbet in the center and-"

"I'M NOT LETTING YOU SEE IT!" Ellyn finally cracked, shouting the phrase.

Dumbledore looked over at us, peering over his half-moon spectacles. "Is something happening over here?" he asked innocently.

Sirius got to his feet, making all of us look at him in fear and shock. "In fact, there is. Ellyn won't show me her bum!" he whined, actually stomping his foot.

Ellyn hit her head on the table.

There was an uncomfortable silence. "Well," Dumbledore finally spoke up, "When the stallion chases after the mare, does it feel shame? Does the mare wish to leave?"

...What?

Dumbledore just smiled softly and sat back down in his seat. I glanced over at James who glanced back at me, both of us thinking the same thing: What the hell did that mean?

After the meeting, Ellyn got up quickly and left the room, trying her best to avoid Sirius. She was clearly furious at him for telling the whole Order about the whole tattoo thing.

"Well, she's angry," James stated the obvious.

"I'm going to talk to her," I sighed, starting to follow her down the hallway.

"I'll go talk to Dumbledore," James told me.

I acknowledged James one last time before going off to find Ellyn. But as soon as I started following her, I noticed somebody had beaten me to it. Sirius walked quickly behind her, trying to say something that would cause her to stop ignoring him. I followed to listen to what he would say.

"El, why are you so mad at me? I didn't do anything I wouldn't normally do. I thought you'd be used to it by now. I thought you'd think it's funny. God, why do you ignore me like that?"

Ellyn whipped around. "Because you're being an ass."

"I've always been one," Sirius defended himself.

Ellyn continued walking. "Maybe I've just gotten used to you not being around so now it seems like you're even more of one."

"Are you saying that you _liked_ being away from me?" Sirius asked as if it was the most shocking thing in his life.

"Maybe." Ellyn gave her short answer.

"And you didn't even miss me?" Sirius asked incredulously. Ellyn shrugged in response. Sirius stood there, his mouth agape at such a thought. He just stood there, staring at her, making Ellyn fidget.

"Well, I'm going to go now," she said, turning around to leave.

"I missed you."

Sirius wasn't laughing, wasn't grinning, wasn't showing any signs of a joke. He was being truly, honestly, _serious_. I watched as Ellyn turned back around with a frown, probably contemplating what he had just told her. She sighed, and said, "Okay, maybe I missed you a tiny bit."

Sirius broke out into a grin. "I knew it."

Ellyn rolled her eyes. "Now, don't get all cocky."

Sirius shut his mouth, but I knew he had a remark to say back to that.

* * *

"_I_ have to help you with this?" 

I looked up with a grin. "This is what the maid of honor has to do," I explained to her.

Ellyn stood in front of me, wearing my wedding veil, making faces at me as I added more pearls and beads with a simple charm I taught myself.

"Why didn't you do this beforehand?" Ellyn asked.

I sighed, looking up at her again. "Because I didn't know you were coming back," I answered as I pulled lightly on the veil.

"I'll send a postcard next time," Ellyn said sarcastically, knowing how much I hate the postal service and their slowness. "Why do I have to wear it as you're putting things on it?"

I answered with an air of professionalism, "Because if I put on the beads now when it's not in a set position, they could fall off."

Ellyn looked at me as if I were crazy. "What?"

I just smiled at her, circling around, making sure the beads were even. I heard the door open behind me and quickly looked to see James walk in, finally back from his discussion with Dumbledore. He stopped in the middle of the doorway and just stared at us.

"Are we having a double wedding or something? Or am I just marrying Ellyn now?"

I chuckled, going back to my work. "Ellyn's my model. I'm fixing my veil."

"And, yes," Ellyn answered, "I am getting married. To my Italian lover, Fabrizio."

James frowned. "Fa-what?"

"Fabrizio," Ellyn corrected in a high voice, as if it was a school crush.

"Fabrizio," I repeated with an Italian accent.

"_Fabrizio,_" we squealed in unison.

James just grinned, shaking his head as he started to leave the room. "Good one," he said, turning back around for only a second to talk.

There was a pause that made me stop my work and looked over at the two. "I'm dead serious," Ellyn said with the most sincerity I've ever heard from her.

James stared, eyes going huge.

And stared some more.

Finally, he turned away, and left without a word. Ellyn watched as he left and refused to take her eyes off of him.

As soon as James was out of sight, I broke out into a fit of laughter. Ellyn joined in immediately.

"He _believed _you," I managed to say between laughs.

"That made my day," Elly announced excitedly.

* * *

I leaned back in the chair, reading through the last book I got, which was this romance novel that Kady let me borrow. It amused me. 

"Whatcha reading?" I felt a weight behind me as James leaned against my chair, trying to catch a glimpse of the book.

I closed the book, setting it down. "Nothing important."

He placed a kiss on my cheek before walking around the chair and sitting down on the arm. I moved as he could sit in the chair and I could sit on his lap. James took advantage of this position, pressing soft kisses on my neck.

"Wedding's in a week," I said softly, tracing patterns on his hand.

"Mmm...I know," James muttered against my neck.

"In a week we'll be husband and wife." I slipped his fingers in between mine lightly.

"Exactly." James moved my head, kissing me on the lips, opening my mouth and deepening the kiss.

I broke off slowly, resting my forehead on his. "When are we going to tell them?" Since everyone was here now, we could tell them. But the question was when...and how.

"Soon," James answered.

"And how?" I kept questioning, wondering how the heck we were going to do this.

"We'll see," James muttered, leaning forward and catching me into another kiss. "No matter what happens though, we'll be fine. We can do this together."

"I love you," I whispered in a breath.

"I love you too," James said with a smile, wrapping his arms around me.

* * *

Who to tell? 

How to tell?

When?

Where?

Urgh.

I sat at a table, eating my breakfast. James had left to go find the rest of the group, promising to come back soon.

A knock on the door made me come out of my thoughts. With a groan, I walked over the door, opening it to find Ellyn on the other side.

"You look tired," she said immediately, "It's Saturday. Wake up."

I frowned. "Did you hear what you just said?"

"I'm used to early mornings now. Never thought it was possible, but I guess it is," Ellyn explained, walking inside.

I walked back into the kitchen, sitting down in my front of my pancakes. Ellyn took the seat next to me. "I didn't get any sleep last night," I said simply, practically falling asleep on the table.

Ellyn raised an eyebrow at me.

I just looked at her, wearily.

"What?" I asked, a little annoyed.

She didn't say anything, but it came to me anyway. "No, not that. I just have a lot on my mind," I corrected her.

"Care to share?" she asked, leaning forward to show she was interested.

I didn't know what to say. "Um..."

Ellyn sat back. "Maybe if you get your mind off of it, you'll be able to say it easier. Talk about something else."

Maybe she was right. Maybe I was just over stressing about telling one thing. I just needed to think straight. Just needed to calm down. "James is probably trying to find you."

Ellyn smiled. "Yeah, I ran into him on the way here. He told me to talk to you."

"Really?" I asked. Ellyn nodded. Of course, James would get Ellyn to make me tell her. And if she knew, she could help us tell the rest of the group."Promise not freak out, okay?" I finally said.

Ellyn just looked at me, waiting for whatever I had to say.

"And promise you'll help me tell everybody else."

Ellyn just nodded.

I took a deep breath, and knew that I could finally tell her. "I'm pregnant."

* * *

So, opinion time!

I just want to know everyone's opinions of Sirius and Ellyn. Together. Or not. If you hate it. If you like it. If you'd kill me if they didn't get together. If you'd kill me if they did. I'm not saying they're ever going to become a couple or not, but I just want to know your opinions. So leave it in your review.

Speaking of reviews, I like them. A lot. (hinthint)

Next chapter will hopefully be up next week. Or two weeks. Depends.

Blue button wants you to click it!


	16. The Days Before

Huzzah! (Don't ask...)

I'm back. With a sort of short chapter. Sorry about that. It's only short by about 400 words though.

Almost to the ending!

* * *

Nothing.

Not a word.

Silence.

I stared at Ellyn across from me, who was sitting back slowly, looking a bit fazed by my words.

More silence.

My heart was beating rapidly. Did she think it was a bad thing? Was she going to yell at me? It wasn't bad news. It was good news. Really good news. Then why was the silence uncomfortable? Why did everything seem wrong in those moments of nothing?

Ellyn looked up suddenly, and grinned. "So, who's is it?"

I let out a breath of relief. I needed a joke. I just gave her a exasperated look and said, "Not funny."

"You're going to have a _child_," Ellyn emphasized it, leaning forward excitedly.

"I know," I grinned.

"And you were acting so calm about it," Ellyn said, "Why didn't you tell me as soon as I got back?"

I shrugged, thinking over all the reasons. "Well, everyone was so excited that you were back that James and I decided to tell you all a day later. So I just acted normal. And we couldn't say anything before because we were waiting for you to get back. I wasn't going to tell everyone without you, of course."

Ellyn grinned. "So, now you have to tell everyone else. Any ideas?"

I shrugged. "That's why you're here."

I honestly had no clue how to tell everyone else. I could try a creative way but how? I wasn't _that_ creative. Heck, I even told James by him walking through the front door and me blurting it out. Romantic.

I glanced up to see Ellyn grinning it me again. "So, if I help you, you have to do something for me."

I nodded. "All right. Name it."

A slow smile appeared over Ellyn's face. "Make me godmother?"

I chuckled. "Of course."

* * *

"Okay, two questions!" Sirius announced as soon as he walked through the door.

James, Remus, and Peter soon came in behind him, and then Kady trailing behind them all. Sirius pulled up the first chair, and sat down, facing it toward me and Ellyn who were sitting on the couch now.

"One: What's this news? And two, what's this I hear about a Breeze Guy and a wedding?" Sirius said quickly, staring us down.

I held back a laugh. James must have believed Ellyn and told Sirius about Fabrizio. This could get interesting.

Ellyn also kept a straight face. "Yeah, my Italian lover and I are getting married soon."

Sirius leaned forward, and I swear I could see jealously flash across his face. "Why would you get married to an _Italian guy_?" Sirius mocked, obviously still not believing the whole story.

"Because I'm carrying his love child," Ellyn announced, and quite convincingly, I might add.

There was a crash as Sirius stood up immediately, knocking over his chair in the process. "What?! You can't be-be-_pregnant_." He whispered the last word as if it was a dangerous thing.

"What if I am?" Ellyn retorted, "Can't flirt with me if I'm pregnant with someone else's child, huh?"  
Sirius just stared back at her. "You're-you're not having a child," he concluded, crossing his arms.

Ellyn grinned. "You're right, I'm not." Sirius let out a sigh and threw his arms up to show he was right the whole time. "But someone in this room is," Ellyn added.

Pretty creative, Ellyn. I stopped watching the interesting argument and looked up to see everyone's faces. It dawned on them at almost the same time and they all turned to look at me.

I nodded in response to their staring. "She's right."

Kady was the first to say anything. "Oh my god."

I laughed. "Doesn't that ever get old?" I complained, as she ran over and pulled me into a hug.

"You're going to have a baby! Oh my god!" Kady kept repeating excitedly, jumping up and down as she continued to hug me.

I looked over Kady's shoulder and saw Sirius slapping James on the back. "You are going to be a father," he exclaimed, and then added, "And I'm going to be godfather, right?"

I could feel Ellyn's frown before I saw it. "Oh no, if he's godfather, then I don't want to be godmother."

Kady let go of me, and said, "I'll be godmother then!"

"That works," Ellyn said simply.

I just frowned at her. "You're godmother," I announced in a low voice, trying to be as menacing as I could.

Ellyn shrugged. "Fine then. I'll go around granting her wishes and singing about fal-de-ral and fiddley dee and waving my glittery wand and sending her to balls to meet a million princes so she can live happily ever after."

"What if it's a boy?" James questioned, obviously amused by her ranting.

"Then...I'll change it to be Cinderfella," Ellyn said wisely.

I laughed, shaking my head. "Fine then, _fairy godmother_."

Kady just rolled her eyes. "I'm so godmother of your next child," she proclaimed.

"And I'm godfather of this child!" Sirius randomly exclaimed again.

Ellyn sighed. "I'm going to go crazy."

Sirius ran over to me, ignoring Ellyn's comment. He kneeled down in front of my stomach, and I nervously looked over at James, freaked by Sirius's behavior. "Hey, little...guy. I'm your godfather and I'm going to teach you how to prank and sneak and womanize-"

"Tell me you're kidding," I interrupted.

Sirius looked up at me with a grin. "Of course not."

"And what if it's a girl?" I added.

"Then I'll teach her how _not _to be womanized."

I chuckled incredulously. "Can you stop talking to my stomach now? It's really weird."

Remus spoke up from next to James. "You're going to have to get used to that now."

I groaned inwardly. "Great," I commented and everyone just grinned at me.

* * *

Sirius apparated in front of me and sighed loudly to show his discomfort. "What's the point of wedding rehearsals? This is not usually how I want to spend my Friday night."

I refrained from yelling at him and instead replied with, "We need to make sure everything will run smoothly tomorrow."

"Well, go practice your honeymoon instead. I'm going to go back and try to find a date. Though that shouldn't be very hard."

James stopped Sirius before he could leave the door of the church where our rehearsal and wedding was taking place. "We need to practice the _wedding_. And didn't you plan a bachelor's party or something?"

I watched as a mischievous grin appeared on Sirius's face. "Oh yes. The bachelor's party. Stag night."

James shook his head, inwardly laughing at what he called it. "You're not going to bring one of your desperate girls, are you?"

I frowned behind Sirius's back and James caught sight of it. He mouthed nonsense words to me, and I just continued to frown. Sirius continued on with his rambling. "Of course-" Sirius noticed James's shaking of the head. "-not? Wait! Why?"

"No girls, Sirius. Just us guys."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Wow, sounds like so much fun." He left into the other room, shaking his head.

James turned his attention onto me. "What are you girls planning for tonight?"

I casually shrugged. "Whatever Ellyn thought up."

James chuckled. "She'll probably hire some male stripper."

Ew. Male strippers. Ew. "Urgh," I groaned out loud, "She'd better not."

"What time is it?" James asked out of nowhere.

I checked the time and realized why he had asked. Our rehearsal was supposed to start ten minutes ago. I immediately started into a brisk walk into the church sanctuary where our wedding was to take place.

Tomorrow.

Only a day away and I wouldn't be Lily Evans anymore.

I would be Lily Potter.

A shiver of excitement ran down my spine at the name. Only a day more. And I wasn't even scared. I was just...excited.

Though I was worried. I was worried that I would start doubting.

But I couldn't think like that.

I wasn't going to.

* * *

"Now, maid of honor and best man go." Ellyn and Sirius just stared at our wedding planner. She stared back, waiting for them to start walking down the aisle. I took a step back, worrying about Ellyn's reaction.

"What?" Ellyn exclaimed.

"You, um-" our planner, Ms. Verte, stuttered, "walk. Down the aisle. Together."

Ellyn pointed at Sirius. "Next to him?"

Ms. Verte frowned. "Where else?"

"I don't know." Ellyn shrugged. "Maybe in front of him?"

Sirius kept his mouth shut, which was very surprising to see. Ms. Verte was starting to lose her temper. "Maid of honor and best man walk down the aisle _together_. Now _walk_."

Ellyn sighed, stepping up next to Sirius. All he did was grin at her and hold out his arm for her to take. After a bracing moment, she cautiously took his arm, and without another word, they started to walk down the aisle.

Sirius finally opened his mouth after they got away from the wedding planner, though I could still heard them. "I rather think this is nice, don't you? Walking down the aisle, together. Nice."

"This is why I didn't want to walk with you," Ellyn answered, "You start making jokes and I can't stand it and now I'm going to go crazy."

Sirius paused, pulling her close to him by moving his arm. "You like it."

Ellyn chuckled incredulously, pulling away from him again. "You are still full of it, aren't you?"

"And you love it."

"Would you stop that?"

That was all I was able to hear before they walked out of hearing range. Ms. Verte nodded at me and I started to walk down the aisle.

* * *

I stopped in front of my house, noticing the "THE PARTY'S HERE" sign sprawled out across the two front windows and the door. I smiled slightly at the sign, and walked inside, knowing full well what I would find.

"Lily!" Kady was the first to spot me walking through the door. "You're here!"

"Last night as a single woman!" I heard Dorcas say across the room.

"Time to party!" I heard another voice shout.

This was definitely going to be an interesting night.

"No male strippers?" I asked Ellyn as soon as I saw her. I spun around, making a show of looking for them. "Seriously, Ellyn, what kind of party is this?"

Ellyn grinned at me. "Thought that the guys will have enough strippers and I really didn't want to copy them."

"James told Sirius no girls," I told her, taking a glass of water that someone handed me.

Ellyn rolled her eyes. "James told _Sirius_ no girls, you say. Do you really think Sirius would have a bachelor's party without girls?"

Maybe Ellyn had a point. Would Sirius still get girls for the party even though James told him not to? ...Yes. I frowned. "Now I really want to know what's going on at that bachelor's party."

All the girls around me nodded in agreement.

"Could we?" Ellyn wondered, looking out into space as she thought about it.

"How? Spy? Sneak? They know us. They know what we look like. They know our personalities. They know everything," I explained to them.

Kady shrugged. "If we go undercover and get into the house."

I frowned again. "We can't go in as girls. It's not like we have time to brew a polyjuice potion and become a guy."

Ellyn caught my gaze and her eyes lit up. "What if one of us did go in as a girl?"

"How is that possible?" Kady asked.

Ellyn grinned, and paused, looking at each of our faces. "So, is there a stripper coming to this party or not?"

I nearly choked on my water. "W-what? We _can't_."

"Oh, but we can," Ellyn responded, "One of us can change her appearance, show up at the party, and claim that we were hired for the night."

All of the girls looked to me for approval. I stared at Ellyn, hardly believing what she was telling me. We couldn't do this. I trusted James, I did. But I wanted to know what Sirius had planned. Even if it was harmless games and partying. "Who would go?"

No response. Of course. A good concept, but no one was brave enough to do it.

"Ellyn should. It's her idea," Kady spoke up.

Ellyn slightly frowned and then shrugged. "Fine. Might be fun anyway."

Looking from each eager face to the next, I knew this would turn out to be an interesting night. "Okay," I agreed, and immediately the room broke out into excited chattering.

"And while we're at it," Ellyn added, raising her voice so all can hear, "Might as well make it a prank..."

* * *

The door slammed shut and the talking in the room stopped almost immediately. Everyone looked to the doorway where Ellyn walked in, still in her disguise she left in which consisted of different hair color (blonde), different eye color (light blue), long coat and her "costume" as she put it. Without a word, Ellyn grabbed her wand on the coffee table, changing back her appearance.

She looked at us, who were looking back, waiting for her to say anything. "Well?" Kady finally asked, unable to stay quiet any longer.

Ellyn broke out into a smile, flopping down on the couch next to me. "Well, I showed up, I told them I was there for the night, Sirius acted like he knew about this the whole time, James looked a bit angry-"

"Knew it," I muttered.

Ellyn looked at me briefly before going on. "Well, Sirius was flirting, of course, but I ignored him, insisted on knowing where the groom-to-be was. Sirius instead insisted that I start with _him-"_

I accidentally let out a small laugh. Ellyn looked at me exasperatedly. "Sorry," I apologized quickly.

Ellyn continued, "So I agreed."

"You're _kidding_," Kady interrupted this time.

"Actually, no. So, I made a show of it. And then, out of my genius, I said, right before he got to see anything, "Oh, wait. Is this the Tenson party?". They said no, and then I replied with "oh, wrong house" and bolted out of there."

The whole room burst into laughter. I almost fell off the couch in my amusement. "You are _evil_."

Ellyn grinned, sitting back. "I know."

_Pop!_ I looked up quickly to see James, Remus, Peter, and Sirius apparate in. "Hey, no guys allowed," Kady exclaimed.

Sirius pointed his finger at Ellyn accusingly. "It was you!" he said loudly.

Ellyn looked at him innocently. "Whatever do you mean?" she asked.

"Remus pointed it out after you left! Tell her, Moony!" Sirius turned to Remus behind him, who looked a bit out of place standing in the middle of the room, while everyone was staring at him.

"Um," Remus started, "All I did was mention that the girl who came had the same nose piercing as Ellyn. And Sirius immediately jumped to the conclusion-"

"I didn't!" Sirius interrupted frantically, "It was her! It was, wasn't it?" He turned back to Ellyn, staring her down.

Ellyn just gave him her innocent look again. "I don't understand."

"You had a _girl _over?" I played along.

James looked at me, almost worriedly. "Sirius said he had gotten her as a surprise but, evidently, she was at the wrong house."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really..." I said, turning to Sirius.

"It was Ellyn!" he said, stomping his foot as if he was a kid, "I know it! She's playing innocent, but, oh, it was her."

"Why would Ellyn be a hired girl?" I frowned.

"Exactly," Remus proclaimed.

Sirius sighed. "Because-because-I don't know. But it was her. I know it!"

"Are you okay, Sirius?" Dorcas asked, hiding back her smile, "Are you hallucinating or something? Sick? Paranoid?"

Sirius screamed under his breath in frustration. "What? No! It was her. She came in and was all "I'm here for the party" and flirty and was going to show us her stuff-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I interrupted there, waving my arms. "That doesn't sound like Ellyn at all."

"Come on, Sirius." James took him by the arm. "I think you've had a little too much butterbeer and firewhiskey."

Sirius fought off James and Remus who also grabbed him. "You know it was her. You can't fool me." James looked at me with a soft smile and a roll of the eyes before disapparating.

The room became filled with laughter again. "They believed us!" Kady shouted triumphantly.

"We're amazing," Ellyn agreed.

"This is the best bachelorette party I could have ever asked for," I announced, smiling.

Surrounded by my friends, getting married to the love of my life, having his child, and I knew, all would be well. For now, at least.

* * *

That was my funny chapter.

So, review. Because I realized reviews make my day. Which is pretty sad, I know, but I just love them that much.

Next chapter to be out 1 to 2 weeks. And it's the last...sadness...

Review and you'll be my best friend!


	17. A Wedding

Well, here it is. The last chapter of this story. I have a bit of information for you at the end of this chapter that you will probably want to know. But for now, enjoy.

* * *

"Mmm...five more minutes." 

A sigh. "It's your wedding day and you want to sleep in five more minutes? Absolutely not!"

I pulled my covers over my head and grumbled again in protest. "Ten more minutes!"

"You just said five."

In response, I ignored the source of the annoying voice that had interrupted my sleep, and instead, went back to my nice peaceful sleep. I heard a frustrated scream and footsteps stomping away. Finally.

I drifted back off into a light sleep, dozing in and out of consciousness. "Lily..."

Another voice.

Another person to annoy me.

I didn't respond, and instead, I turned over, hiding myself in my covers. A light touch on my arm. "Lily..." the voice tried again, and I felt a weight next to me. "Wake up." After I still didn't respond, I felt a soft kiss on my forehead. "Come on...you've got to get ready. It's our big day."

I sighed and slowly opened my eyes to see the man lying next to me. "Maybe next time I shouldn't stay out all night partying," I joked sleepily.

"Maybe," James chuckled, reaching up and brushing my hair out of my face.

I yawned suddenly, reveling in the moment. My covers moved a bit, and I realized how cold it was in the room. The cold. The part I hated about winter.

"Cold?" James asked softly, and I looked to see he was running his fingers down my arm, which were covered in goosebumps.

"A little," I yawned, finally coming back into the awake world.

James pulled me closer to him and I immediately felt the warmth of the embrace. "Today is our wedding day," he proclaimed softly in my ear.

"Mmm...I know..." I whispered contently.

"You know something?" James muttered, gently turning me around to face him.

I smiled softly. "What?"

"I love you."

I sighed contentedly, and whispered, with a smile, "Tell me again."

James leaned forward, capturing my lips in a light kiss. He let go slightly, murmuring "I love you", and then went back to kissing my lips, my jaw, my neck, muttering the same thing over and over again; "I love you, I love you, I love you".

"I love hearing you say that," I exclaimed after he kissed me for the last time.

James gave me a look. "And..?" he urged.

I grinned, kissing him hastily on the mouth. "And I love _you_."

"Maybe we should get married or something," James joked, letting go of me to stretch. "Now, get up. Ceremony begins in T minus five hours."

My eyes widened and I quickly threw the covers over my body, scrambling to get up. "I have so much to do!"

James turned away from me, calling out the door, "I told you I could get her up!"

* * *

"Wait a second. Run that by me again." 

I walked into the kitchen and stopped behind Remus, who was watching something unfolding. Stopping beside him, I could see what he was so interested in.

Sirius was sitting on the counter (_my_ counter; _sitting_ on it!), leaning forward, talking to Ellyn who stood across from him, arms crossed in her "defensive pose". "See, according to this book that I wrote-" Sirius held out a book with paper over its cover.

Ellyn took it with a frustrated sigh. "According to this book, you're an idiot."

Sirius took it back quickly, holding it out for everyone to see its cover, a scrawled title "Wedding Rules by Sirius Black" written over the paper covering it. Sirius turned it to a page where I saw medical diagrams and terms. "Right here it says 'Best man and maid of honor have to go together because it is a law in every country'."

Ellyn took the book. "It _says_ the pharynx is the part of the neck and throat situated immediately posterior to the mouth and nasal cavity, and cranial, or superior, to the esophagus, larynx, and trachea."

Sirius jumped off the counter and landed triumphantly. "So, that's it. We're going together."

"What? I didn't agree to this!" Ellyn said loudly.

Kady appeared behind me and I let her in to see the excitement. Ellyn groaned, putting a hand to her head in frustration. "Take another girl, please," she finally pleaded, looking very stressed and tired.

"Best man takes the maid of honor. It's an unwritten rule," Sirius retorted.

Ellyn took his book again, holding it in his face. "According to you, it's written right here. So it's not _unwritten_."

"How about this?" I suddenly spoke up. They both looked at me like they just realized I was standing there. "You don't go _together_ but you act _civil_ to each other. For one day."

"Impossible," Ellyn said almost immediately.

I grinned. "Impossible things are happening every day."

Peter appeared from over the couch, where he was either sleeping or eavesdropping. I'm guessing the second. "And impossible dreams come true?"

We all looked at him. "No more watching Cinderella," I announced, and Peter went back to his hiding place with a frown. I turned my attention back on Sirius and Ellyn. "So, no arguing, fighting, dirty...joking..."

"That's a verb?" Ellyn asked, eyebrow raised.

I shrugged. "It is now."

"Whatever," Ellyn said simply, leaving the room.

"Is that an okay?" Kady questioned, watching Ellyn leave.

I nodded. "I think it might have been."

Sirius grinned. "Knew it." With a sigh, I turned back to Sirius, playfully shoving him out of my way.

Only three hours later, I stood in front of the full-length mirror; my wedding dress on the hanger next to the mirror, reflected in the mirror back at me.

"Stop looking at yourself!" Kady complained, appearing out of nowhere behind me to check on my curlers.

"I'm just-"

"-imagining again, I know," Kady cut me off, stopping in front of me to do my make-up.

I smiled. I noticed she wasn't in her bridesmaid dress yet. "Are you getting dressed?" I asked.

Kady shrugged. "I have a schedule. I don't get dressed for another forty minutes."

I laughed, making Kady mess up my blush. "You're never going to grow out of that, are you?"

"Schedules? Definitely not."

Peering in the mirror behind Kady's shoulder, I could see Ellyn walk in, putting on her earrings. I turned around to face her and looked at the dress I picked out of her that she never got to try on; being in Italy and all that.

All my bridesmaids were in lavender; a long flowy dresses that folded out into a full skirt on the bottom and had a simple top with straps and little sleeves. It was both casual and classy; one of the reasons why I picked them. And it looked great on everyone, making everyone look either innocent or just cute.

"I look..." Ellyn stopped in the mirror behind me, finally putting the last backing on her earring. "...cute."

I grinned at her reaction. "Don't want to look cute?"

She gave me a exasperated look. "I stopped trying to look cute when I turned fourteen."

"You'll make it work," I told her. She shrugged, disappearing from the mirror to probably make it so she looked as far from cute as humanly possible.

Kady finished with my make-up, giving me an approving nod before disappearing too. I turned around to see what else was going on behind me. Kady was missing now, probably doing something on her schedule. Ellyn took the mirror on the opposite wall, trying to find something to do to make herself not look so cute. Currently, it involved twirling her wand between her fingers and looking thoughtful.

"Don't touch that dress, Ellyn Hatcher," I said loudly.

She turned around, spotting me and giving me a look that said she wasn't going to do anything in the first place. But I knew she was thinking about it. Ellyn finally came over, frowning. "Since I can't possibly work on my look right now, we're going to start to get you ready to put on your dress."

"Is that on Kady's list?" I smiled.

Ellyn just kept on frowning. "Seriously, you have one hour and thirty minutes until ceremony starts."

I turned around to look back in the mirror, taking a deep breath. "I suppose you're right."

One hour and thirty minutes. That was how much time I had to get ready. That was how much time I had...until I became a wife.

* * *

"I just want to talk to her!" I peered around the door to see James trying to get past Ellyn and Kady, who were barricading the doorway. 

"You can't see the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding!" Kady yelled at him, pushing him back with her hand.

James sighed impatiently. "I _know. _If you're really worried about that, I won't look at her."

Ellyn scoffed. "How is that possible?"

"I'll face the other way! I don't know," James said, still trying to get around my friends.

"Let him in," I finally said from my spot behind the door, "We'll work it out."

Kady reluctantly let go of James, and both of them stepping aside to let him through. I hid once again behind the door as James looked around the room for me. "I'm behind the door," I told him, stepping out, making sure he was turned around from me, "I'm currently curious about how we're going to go about that 'not seeing each other' thing."

I almost heard James's grin. "Come here." He held out his hands for me to take. I slowly walked up to him, stealing a glance over at Ellyn and Kady watching us interestedly. "Back to back," James whispered as I grabbed his hands. I turned around, being only a bit obstructed by my poofy wedding dress.

I looked back over to where Ellyn and Kady where to see that they had left. Probably to give us some alone time.

"This is weird," James commented, interlacing my fingers with his.

"It's nice though. To see you before the wedding," I explained.

"Nervous?" James asked lightly.

I bit my lip and sighed. "A little. No big doubts or anything, if that's what you're thinking."

"Me too," James breathed.

"Why did you need to see me so badly?" I voiced the question on my mind.

James moved slightly. "I needed to hear your voice. It's nerve-wracking getting ready for the ceremony, just thinking about everything, about you. And I needed to _talk_ to you. To hear you."

I smiled at his words, fading into a comfortable silence. "Ten minutes..." I noted softly.

"I'd better get going," James answered, letting go my hands slowly.

James tried to turn around, but I stopped him with a touch on the shoulder. I leaned up behind him and covered his eyes with my hands, and then walked around to the front, smiling at how vulnerable he was. Leaning forward on my tiptoes, I kissed him lightly, softly, before stepping back down again. "Love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," I responded, and then added, "close your eyes." Peering through my fingers, I saw he had obeyed. I walked to the side of him, bringing my hands down.

James hesitated for a moment, spinning around blindly, looking for the door. With a chuckle, I walked forward, grabbing James by the shoulders and pointing him toward the door. "Thanks."

He took a step forward and I immediately caught sight of the chair in his path. "Oh, watch out for the-" Too late. The next thing I knew, James was toppling over the chair, landing on the other side.

"Ow..." James groaned, falling backward in pain, eyes still shut.

I giggled. "I tried to warn you."

James just groaned again, putting a hand to his head to help his pain.

* * *

My heart beat fast as the music started. I looked over at my dad, who was standing next to me, totally calm. I looked over to the other side to see Remus and Kady starting down the aisle. Kady turned around to give me a look of reassurance before heading down. 

"Relax," Ellyn whispered to me.

I frowned. "I am."

Ellyn looked like she was about to say something, but instead, closed her mouth and went back to waiting in line. A couple seconds later she went and fixed my train, moving it so I could easily walk down the aisle.

Walk down the aisle.

To get married.

And then I started to worry. I only had a minute to recover from my worry. I couldn't worry. There was no reason; I was getting married to someone I loved and I was going to have his child and all would turn out well. It would. It would...Why was I reassuring myself? Why was everyone reassuring me?

Ellyn gave me a reassuring look (_another _one) before taking Sirius's arm casually and starting down the aisle.

Hmm, I guess she really taking my advice about being civil to Sirius. They were acting...normal. Strange.

I listened to the music change. The wedding march.

Wait, the wedding march. I was supposed to walk down the aisle now. I could hear the movement of everyone standing up, waiting for me. Watching me.

My nerves caught up with me then. I couldn't move. My father took my arm, ready to lead me down the aisle but I was beyond nervous. If I could just move forward, but I couldn't. Everyone was waiting, waiting for me to walk down the aisle. To watch. To criticize. To stare. To-

James.

James would be waiting for me. If I concentrated on him, I could do anything, right?

I took a deep breath, taking a step forward through the oak doors. I barely saw the people in the pews, watching me and my father walk, and instead, my gaze immediately went to the man standing at the front of the church, staring back at me.

I smiled slightly at the way he stood there, nervously, wringing his hands as if he were as nervous as me. He probably _was_ as nervous. But seeing him there, staring back at me intensely, my fears began to diminish. I could do this.

My father let me go suddenly and I realized we were at the front of the church. I took James's arm and walked up the steps with him.

He was smiling back at me, making me almost laugh out of nervousness and just comfort. "You look beautiful," he whispered to me, making me blush.

The minister cleared his throat and we turned toward him. "Dearly Beloved," he said, loudly and clearly, "we are gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses, to join James Potter and Lily Evans in matrimony, which is commended to be honorable among all men; and therefore – is not by any – to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly – but reverently, discreetly, advisedly and solemnly. Into this holy estate these two persons present now come to be joined. If any person can show just cause why they may not be joined together – let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

My mind fleetingly went to the scene of someone bursting in proclaiming why the couple couldn't get married. But there was a silence after those words and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Who gives this woman to this man?"

I looked to the side to see my dad stand up and exclaim that he was. I smiled at him, and he nodded back at me. Beside him, my mother was already in tears.

"These two are embarking on a new life passage together through their love. Love is something special, a light that shines. Love is swift, sincere, pious, joyful, generous, strong, patient, faithful, prudent, long-suffering, and courageous. James and Lily have found this with each other and I know they will hold onto this, shown through this ceremony. Marriage is a union of two souls, a promise to each other. It's serious, this vow. And I know these two will take marriage as it supposed to be."

The speech was interrupted by my mother, now blowing her nose loudly. Both James and I glanced over and I looked back, chuckling softly, making him grin.

"Now, for your vows. James, repeat after me." James looked to the minister briefly and then back at me. "I, James Potter, take you, Lily Evans-"

James smiled softly at me before starting. "I, James Potter, take you, Lily Evans-"

"-to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward-"

"-to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward-"

"-for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer-"

"-for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer-"

"-in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish-"

"-in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish-"

"-from this day forward until death do us part."

"-from this day forward until death do us part." He finished with a loving look to me, making me tear up like my mother.

"Now, Lily, repeat after me..."

The words left my mouth almost instantly, and they felt _right_, each and every one. "I, Lily Evans, take you, James Potter to be my husband, to have and told from this day forward for better of for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do us part."

The rings were brought forward by Sirius. Wait-we actually trusted him with those? Maybe we should have gotten a ring bearer. Sirius handed my ring to James. "Now," the minister continued, "'With this ring, I thee wed'."

James's voice immediately lighted. "With this ring, I thee wed." He took ahold on my left hand, and with the lightest touch, slid the ring on my finger.

I took his ring and exclaimed, "With this ring, I thee wed" before sliding the ring onto his finger. James smiled at me, taking my hand in his and holding on.

The minister continued. "James, did you want to read a poem?"

I looked up, surprised. He never told me about a poem. James nodded. "Yes," James replied, taking a deep breath. "I feel like I never measure up to who you see. Sometimes I think I can't give you all the love you need. You keep changing everyday, amazing me in every way. If I could be the perfect man in your eyes, I would give all I'm worth to be a part of your life. I could promise the world but it's out of my hands. I can only give you everything I have. I never dreamed I could ever feel the way I do. I hope and pray I will always be enough for you. I can only do my best. I have to trust you with the rest. I promise I will hold you through the changes and fears when life seems unclear. And when I can't be right there with you I know there's angels by your side. If I could be the perfect man in your eyes, I would give all I'm worth to be a part of your life. I could promise the world but it's out of my hands. I can only give you everything I have."

The tears started even though I willed myself not to cry. "Oh god, did you try and make me cry?" I immediately said as soon as I could breathe. The whole audience laughed, and I was suddenly reminded that they were watch the whole thing.

The minister actually smiled and said, "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Without any hesitation, James caught me in a passionate kiss. Our first kiss as husband and wife. Our first kiss as a married couple. I broke apart with a happy laugh. James brushed off my tears that still lingered under my eyes, and leaned down, kissing me again to the applause and cheering of the congregation.

* * *

"So, Mrs. Potter, how do you like being called Mrs. Potter?" James joked, holding me close, teasingly resting his forehead on mine but still not close enough to kiss me. 

"Actually-" I looked behind me to see Ellyn stopping at the table. "You aren't official until Sirius and I sign those papers." It was right after the ceremony and we still had to leave the church to get to the reception, but first, was the official signing of the papers.

I groaned, trying to keep a straight face. "Did we really give you guys that power?"

"Yep," Sirius remarked from the other side, grabbing the first pen he saw. "Look, I'm using a muggle pen!" Sirius exclaimed happily, clicking it over and over.

Sirius was the first to sign under 'best man'. Ellyn got it next, signing it slowly just to spite me, I'm sure. James let me go next, handing me the paper, and then I gave it to him, in which he also started signing slowly.

I sighed, getting impatient. "James!" I whined.

James looked up at me with a grin. "Fine-" he finished with a flourish, "-Mrs. Potter."

I almost squealed as I practically jumped on him, kissing him fervently, as he spun me in a quick circle.

"There's going to be a lot of PDA today," Sirius commented in the midst of our kiss.

"It all depends on how many times we ring our glasses," Ellyn added.

I broke the kiss and looked over at the two of them and decided that I didn't even have to say a word.

* * *

"Okay, so, I wasn't sure how to do this-" I glanced up at Sirius, who stood next to James with a huge grin on his face. With a worried look, I caught James's gaze. He shrugged, realizing my fears about this whole best man speech. "So, of course, I had to look it up. And some random book said something like 'bless the new couple and thank the bridesmaids'. I had some _ideas_-" I involuntarily groaned. "But James found out. Now I can't thank the bridesmaids like I wanted to." 

"Thank god," Ellyn muttered under her breath. I smiled at her amusedly before looking back at Sirius.

"But I'm still going to say something about them at the end."

I got some worried looks after that line, and all I could do was shrug in return.

"Okay, here we go," Sirius tried to say in an "important" voice, "A nice crisp day in 7th year, I came across these two in a compromising situation on the couch." Oh, no, my _parents _were in the room. "And I knew, from then on, nothing would ever be the same. It's great to joke with them and all, but I know, deep down, that I would do anything for them. They're my best friends and I don't know what I would do without them." Sirius smiled down at us. I smiled back, partly in disbelief that he admitted such a thing in front of a whole crowd. This was a rarely seen side to Sirius-and I liked it. "This is why I'm so excited for them. No two people deserve this more than them."

He ended his speech and the whole room applauded, some even ringing their glasses. Soon, the whole room joined in the ringing and James leaned over, pecking my lips lightly.

"Snogging before I can finish," Sirius commented, "Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome," I responded cheekily.

Sirius turned back to the crowd. "My revised version of thanking the bridesmaids isn't as exciting as my first, but this will have to do. Bridesmaids: good job walking down that aisle. It was really moving...really. And special thanks to my favorite bridesmaid, who is actually my maid-of-honor-"

Ellyn didn't even hesitate to comment. "Yours?"

Sirius looked down. "It's the unwritten rule!" He turned back to the crowd. "Do you agree that if both the best man and maid-of-honor are single, then they are supposed to come together?"

I'm not kidding. I watched as the whole crowd agreed with him with nods and murmurs and simple 'yes's.

Ellyn sighed. "Just finish," she groaned.

Sirius grinned. "So, special thanks to her, Ellyn Hatcher, because she's my favorite and she knows why."

And now the whole crowd 'ooo'ed in response. They were honestly all on Sirius's side about this matter.

"I've officially decided this isn't happening," Ellyn muttered, hiding behind her hands.

"Whatever happened to the whole civil thing?" I whispered to her.

She glanced at me wearily. "Him."

There was a short pause. "Ten galleons if you do something nice for him today," I said really quickly.

Ellyn leaned back in her chair slowly, contemplating the deal. "Fine," she agreed, and that was that.

James held me close in our slow dance, spinning me around gracefully. The song finally ended and Sirius cut his way through to the middle of the dance floor.

"Garter time!" he proclaimed as soon as he made his way over to us.

James grinned, trying to hide it. But I noticed. "James..." I warned him.

"It's a tradition," he exclaimed, shrugging.

I gave him a look. "You're enjoying this way too much for it to be only a tradition."

"Chair!" Sirius appeared once again, sliding a chair across the dance floor. I rolled my eyes and sat down, thinking over and over that my parents would be watching.

James flashed me another grin before disappearing under my dress. At least the people in the room had the knowledge that I _was_ wearing something underneath too.

But they were giving me weird looks.

My parents _right there_. Watching.

I looked away quickly, finding Sirius, Remus, Ellyn, and Kady in the crowd. Sirius was smirking at me, Remus was watching with a fixated sort of amusement, Ellyn was trying her best not to laugh, and Kady was grinning.

Finally. He had the stupid garter.

Why is this whole thing a tradition? It was so embarrassing.

James reappeared and immediately the crowd reacted. I almost died from the embarrassment right there.

I stood up quickly, stepping back to let James toss the garter. Into a pile of guys. Who were going to be touching something that was on my leg. I swear, who came up with these traditions?

The guys assembled themselves into a disorganized group of chaos; Sirius, in front, jumping up and down. The garter vanished as soon as it was thrown as the men jumped to where they thought it landed.

"Um," Remus spoke up, "I...kind of have it." He cautiously held it up for all to see.

"Lucky you!" Sirius immediately shouted.

I grabbed onto my bouquet of flowers and ushered the girls over. "Now, please don't kill each other over this."

I glanced behind me to see the girls practically trampling each other in a circle, except for Ellyn and Kady, who stood on the outside.

"What's the point if you don't want to get married?" I heard Ellyn asking.

There was a pause before Kady said, "Because...it's fun?"

I shook my head and decided just to throw it. I tossed it over my shoulder and heard the screaming. Spinning around quickly, I saw the girls jumping up and down, looking for where it landed.

"The guy with the garter and girl with the bouquet have to do that one thing, right?" I heard Ellyn ask over the hustle and bustle.

"Um, yeah?" I answered, a bit confused.

Ellyn moved her hand, revealing the bouquet and gave it quickly over to Kady. "Have fun," she said, before leaving the scene.

Kady stared at the bouquet and then squealed. "I got it!" she shouted, running over to me.

I laughed. "Congratulations."

Remus walked up. "I'm not going under anybody's dress," he was complaining.

Sirius shook his head from beside him. "How do you get through life?"

Kady sat down in the chair I was previously sitting in. "It's okay. I don't mind." She said that a little too enthusiastically for this to be some game.

Remus looked over at us, and then shrugged. "Okay."

I'll admit: It was pretty interesting to watch him try to put a garter on Kady's leg. This is probably why this tradition still took place.

* * *

"Edgar Bones brought _her_." 

I looked over in reaction to James's comment to see a girl that looked a bit familiar talking to Sirius. Well, not exactly talking. More like flirting with him so bad that she was practically on top of him. "Her?" I questioned.

"There was this girl when we were in sixth year. She was a fifth year, ummm...her name was Waverly Monte, if I remember correctly. So anyway, she stalked Sirius. And I mean _stalked_. She was everywhere we were. Even in the bathroom."

I looked back over at Sirius and the girl: Waverly. "Really?" Currently, she was trying to dance with him, even though her date, Edgar, was dancing with her.

"Yeah. And now she's back and it's looks like it's as bad as ever."

"Wait, so Sirius didn't ever like her back?" This was against like...the Sirius code.

"His standards don't go down _that_ low," James explained.

We watched them in silence for a couple seconds. It was quite amusing actually. I watched as Ellyn leaned forward. "Isn't that annoying blonde chick?" she remarked, pointing over to Waverly.

Then it came back to me. I did remember Waverly. However, Ellyn and I used to refer to her as "annoying blonde chick". "Yeah," I said.

All three of us now watched the two dance. I almost snorted when Waverly tried to dance under Sirius's arm and pulled it the wrong way. "This...is like a train wreck," I commented. James nodded.

"Mmm...but a very amusing one," Ellyn added. "And this is a very random way to spend your wedding reception."

James and I smiled at that. Another amusing minute passed. "Poor Sirius," James sighed.

"He doesn't actually deserve this much torture." I frowned at the "dancing" of the girl, which included waving arms in Sirius's face. Oh, and there was a "dip". Whoa, that looked...strange.

"As amusing as this is," James spoke up, "This will need to stop soon before someone...attacks someone."

Ellyn sighed. "Fine," she groaned, getting up out of her seat. "I expect ten galleons from this."

"What is she doing?" James leaned sideways to talk to me.

"I think she's going to...be nice," I tried, not even sure myself.

Sirius and Waverly moved closer to the table, which was a good thing, since now we could hear what was going on.

"How long has it been, Sirius?" she asked him, all giggly-like.

Sirius was trying to back away. "Not long enough..." he grimaced.

Ellyn casually strode up to Sirius, taking him by the arm and pulling him next to her. "Hey, baby," she purred.

James almost fell out of his chair. I caught him before he fell, never taking my eyes off the scene in front of us.

Sirius didn't miss a beat and didn't even question what was happening. "Hey, El," he said in the same manner, almost seductively.

Waverly glanced back and forth between them. "Um, who are you?"

Ellyn smirked, taking his arm. "Why, I'm his girlfriend."

James's eyes widened. Personally, I was also surprised that Ellyn would do this...even if it was for ten galleons.

"Really?" Waverly didn't sound that convinced.

Sirius grinned. "Why else would she be my favorite bridesmaid?" Sirius ran one of his hands up and down her arm slowly. Ellyn didn't even flinch.

"I don't believe it," Waverly concluded, crossing her arms and taking a step forward to challenge them.

"Believe it," Sirius exclaimed, brushing back Ellyn's hair from her neck and leaning down to leave a kiss there. He lingered a bit too long, I think.

"Pinch me," James whispered to me, "I swear I'm dreaming." I pinched him. "Ow! Not that hard!" James complained and then looked over at me, shocked. "I'm not dreaming..."

Ellyn still didn't show any signs of weakening. All she did was smile at Sirius and say, sweetly, "Let's go dance." She pulled his arm playfully, and they disappeared into the crowd, leaving behind the very surprised and shocked Waverly.

Not to mention a very surprised and shocked Lily and James.

James rested his head on his hand, staring at where they left. "You know," he finally said, "They kind of do make an attractive couple."

I gave him a look. "They'd kill each other," I reasoned.

James murmured his agreement. After another pause, he said, "You know how attractive their kids would be?"

Turning to look at him again with a disapproving expression, I said, slowly, "Don't even go there."

The night was finally wearing down as the song "I Love the Nightlife" played loudly to a nearly empty dance floor.

James and I stood on the side of the dance floor, watching everyone. We had danced for an hour straight and we were getting very tired. I smiled slightly at the scene that lay out before me. Kady, Peter, and Remus were trying to dance to the song, but since it was a muggle disco song, they didn't quite know how. Sirius definitely did, however. I'm not sure why he knew how to disco, but he was really getting into the whole thing. Ellyn was even dancing with him – still. Which just included a lot of disco arm turns and moving on beat with pointed fingers.

I laughed out loud at the sight, turning to James. "I'm so..._content_ right now," I confessed, leaning into him,

He grinned, kissing the top of my head. "I know what you mean."

After a couple more songs, the only people left were the parents, our group of friends, and some random old lady named Zoe. James and I talked to our parents, thanking them and hugging them as they wished the best for us.

The random old lady suddenly caught James in a really boring conversation. Luckily, I got away from her and quickly made an exit from the room.

In the hallway of the reception hall, I met up with Sirius and Ellyn talking. I was about to jump in their conversation but stopped when I saw that I might not want to.

"Want to come back to my place with me?" Sirius was asking.

Ellyn sighed, rolling her eyes. "You're not that lucky," she replied, trying to get away.

"Why not?" Sirius joked, turning her around to talk again.

"Because just if I dance with you doesn't mean I immediately have to like you."

Sirius frowned. "Come on, lighten up."

"Sirius, stop. Really," she ended, walking away.

"What if I'm being honest?" Sirius called after her retreating form, "What if I really want to...I don't know...be with you?" He wasn't joking anymore.

Ellyn stopped, taking a deep breath. "We can't," she explained, turning back around.

"Why not?" Sirius questioned, his voice soft.

Ellyn shrugged. "You're Sirius. I'm Ellyn. That's why." She disapparated right after that, leaving Sirius alone.

I backed away to leave Sirius alone, almost running right into James who was walking up behind me. "Hey, there you are," he exclaimed, kissing me lightly.

We started walking back to main room, and I took his hand in mine. Smiling softly, I said, "I love you..."

"I love you too." James caught me in another kiss, a lingering soft one. "We're married now," James announced.

"Yeah," I breathed.

"We're married and we're going to have a baby," James said, grabbing me in an embrace, spinning me around, making me laugh. "And the war won't stop us. We're going to make it, I promise."

As I stared into his hazel eyes, I realized I had everything I ever wanted. Love, trust, protection, comfort, friendship. Bringing me into a loving kiss, I knew my life from now on would be a new adventure for me and James to take. Together.

* * *

And there it is. 

Things that happened in this chapter:  
- Sirius/Ellyn fans went "boo!", "YES!", "OMG!", and then, finally, "NOOOOO". Don't you hate me now because I didn't make them get together? In fact, I think I might get some shampoo bottles thrown at me.  
- The poem James recited isn't actually a poem. It's the song "Everything I Have" by Clay Aiken. You can probably find it on YouTube.  
- The "I Love the Nightlife" dance sequence is actually real (by the way, look up the lyrics...they're hilarious). My show choir is doing it right now and so the whole Sirius and Ellyn dancing thing is totally based off of that. Check my profile on May 30th and you'll see a message linking you to a video of the dance.  
- Mucho foreshadowing...

Things that didn't happen but were supposed to:  
- Some dirty jokes involving "shanking", "Je veux monter ta tour!" (I want to climb your tower), and a normal joke about "It tastes like apples!".  
- Whatever I forgot.  
- Some that are going to be flashbacks in the sequel.

Talking about the sequel, here are some facts:

1. It takes place during Harry's 5th year and it's AU because...  
2. It's in the POV of a new character who isn't in the series. Her name is Adrienne and if you need to know, look up some things about her name and you might find out something.  
3. I have to write the characters of Harry, Ron, and Hermione...which I've never done. I was kidding about making them very cliched like Harry being all "ANGST!" and Ron being all "BLOODY HELL" and Hermione just like "book". Sorry if it sucks.  
4. Even though it takes place in Harry's time, there will be random flashbacks to what happened after the wedding. Cause there's some important stuff there.  
5. It will skip around...a lot. Prepare to get lost.  
6. It may take me awhile to post it because I have to make sure I get it right. It's very confusing. So many plot twists.  
7. The title is "And Then There Were None". Depressing, right? Ooo...foreshadowing...

So, that's it. I'm see you all in the sequel. Watch my profile for any updates about the sequel or anything else. I might post some one-shots in the meantime.

And because it's the last chapter, why don't you all review and tell me what you thought. I know around 50 people have this story on their alerts list and if all of you reviewed, then we can make it to 200 reviews for this story. That'd be awesome.

Last chapter...so review? Please?

And...

FIN.


	18. The Sequel

Just want everyone to know that the sequel to this story, And Then There Were None, is up.

And to make this not just an author's note and get everyone mad at me, here is the beginning of And Then There Were None...

* * *

It was dusk; a dusty dark red seeping over the horizon. The trees outside rustled softly as the wind blew, making the only sound in the quiet.

I glanced out the closed door, watching, waiting. My mother's instructions were to stay here and watch out the door. I wasn't sure what I was watching for but I knew it was important. Nervously, I fingered my wand in my back pocket, just in case.

Questions swarmed through my mind. Why were we here? Why did we have to hide? Why did we have to be so secretive?

I pressed against the wall, wondering what to do next. Across from me in the mirror, I saw a confused girl with dark thick hair and amber eyes staring back at me. I brushed a piece of my hair out of my face, realizing why I was often told that I looked like my mother.

My mother. Where was she?

"Mom?" I called, looking behind me in the seemingly deserted room.

I turned at the sound of footsteps, seeing my mother coming from the other room. "Adrienne," she said softly, speaking in hurried harsh whispers, "I need you to promise me something." I nodded in confusion, as she placed a folded piece of parchment in my hand. "If something happens, you know what I mean,I need you to read what is in here. Just read it and do what it tells you. No questions, just promise me."

* * *

Go read the sequel to find out what happens!

Thanks for reading. To the people with this story on story alert: Make sure to story alert the sequel too.


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